THE  RELATION  OF  THE  CITY  TO 
ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 


REPORT  OF  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 


NOVEMBER  19,  1914 


BY 


CLYDE  LYNDON  KING,  Chairman,  University  of 
Pennsylvania;  ARTHUR  J.  ANDERSON,  Editor,  "Penn- 
sylvania Farmer";  H.  B.  FULLER-TON,  Agriculturist, 
Long  Island  Railroad  Company;  CYRUS  C.  MILLER, 
formerly  President,  Borough  of  the  Bronx, 
N,  Y.;  PAUL  WORK,  Cornell  University,  N.  Y. 


Price:  50  Cents 


PHILADELPHIA 

NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 
1915 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  CITY  TO 
ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 


REPORT  OF  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 


NOVEMBER  19,  1914 


BY 


CLYDE  LYNDON  KING,  Chairman,  University  of 
Pennsylvania;  ARTHUR  J.  ANDERSON,  Editor,  "Penn- 
sylvania Farmer";  H.  B.  FDLLERTON,  Agriculturist, 
Long  Island  Railroad  Company;  CYRUS  C.  MILLER, 
formerly  President,  Borough  of  the  Bronx, 
N.  Y.;  PAUL  WORK,  Cornell  University,  N.  Y. 


Price:  SO  Cents 


PHILADELPHIA 

NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 
1915 


RtTMFORD  PRESS 

CONCOBD,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE   COMMITTEE 

ON   THE 

RELATION  OF  THE  CITY  TO  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY1 


The  relation  of  the  twentieth  century  city  to  its  food  supply 
differs  in  practically  every  prime  essential  from  the  relation  of  the 
nineteenth  century  village  to  its  food  supply. 

The  marvelous  development  of  trans-continental  and  oceanic 
freight  facilities  has  made  the  world  the  city's  garden  patch  and 
the  sea  its  harbor.  The  development  of  cold  storage  and  warehouse 
facilities  has  placed  the  city  nearer  to  the  farm  a  thousand  miles 
away  then  was  the  farm  within  sight  of  the  city's  buildings  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago.  The  information  as  to  crop  and  harvest  con- 
ditions, secured  by  wholesale  commission  houses,  has  led  to  stability 
in  wholesale  price  and  has  placed  the  surplus  output  of  every  region 
and  practically  every  clime  at  the  beck  and  call  of  the  city  dweller 
who  can  pay  the  price.  The  practice  of  diversion  of  shipments,  or 
selling  in  transit,  by  which  a  carload  of  grain  or  produce  can  be 
diverted  en  route  to  a  point  where  local  prices  are  higher  than  at 
the  point  of  original  shipment,  is  symbolic  at  once  of  the  fluidity 
and  stability  of  the  twentieth  century  food  supply. 

The  big  fact  about  the  food  for  the  twentieth  century  city  is  the 
diversity  of  its  supply.  This  diversity  in  food  supply  means  that 
a  city  can  now  be  located  wherever  specialization  warrants  without 
suffering  from  untoward  prices  or  other  dangers  formerly  inherent 
in  distance  from  the  base  of  supply.  This  diversity  means,  too,  not 
only  specialization  in  cities,  but  specialization  in  farming  countries 
as  well.  And,  finally,  diversity  in  food  supply  means  choice  of 
foods  and  consequently  a  more  satisfying,  even  though  more  costly, 
daily  urban  life. 

While  this  diversity  in  food  supply  has  its  definite  advantages,  its 
disadvantages  must  not  be  overlooked.  First  and  foremost,  this 
diversity  has  tended  to  cause  urban  dwellers  to  under-estimate  the 
value  to  the  city  of  having  a  prosperous  and  productive  agricultural 
country  round  about.  When  producers  go  elsewhere,  agricultural 

1  The  Committee  is  under  special  obligations  to  Mr.  Samuel  S.  Fels,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  fi- 
nancial support  made  possible  certain  investigations.  The  Committee  is  also  indebted  to  Mr. 
Charles  J.  Brand,  Chief  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Markets. 


4  "'  THE  birr  AN&  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

land  values  go  elsewhere;  and  when  agricultural  land  values  go 
elsewhere,  purchasers  and  purchasing  power  soon  accompany  them. 
No  city  is  so  wealthy  nor  the  purchasing  power  of  the  rank  and  file 
of  its  citizens  so  ample  that  it  can  afford  to  be  heedless  of  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  nearby  communities,  nor  heedless  of  the  high  food 
costs  incident  to  buying,  transporting  and  selling  foodstuffs  grown 
at  a  distance.  The  greater  the  distance  the  city  is  from  its  base  of 
supplies,  the  greater,  as  a  rule,  will  its  food  costs  be  and  this  not 
because  transportation  charges  are  higher,  for  that  does  not  follow 
of  necessity,  but  because  the  system  by  which  distant  food  supplies 
are  handled  must  necessarily  be  more  complex  and  must  require 
more  men — who  must  be  paid,  and  more  risks — which  must  be 
compensated — than  the  nearby  supply. 

To  secure  minimum  food  costs  in  cities  is,  therefore,  the  twofold 
problem  of  (1)  securing  all  the  advantages  of  world-wide  markets 
at  minimum  distribution  costs,  while  (2)  keeping  in  close  and  in- 
timate touch  with  the  producing  territory  round  about. 

The  basic  elements  of  a  constructive  city  program  for  lower  food 
costs  may  be  classified  as:  (1)  The  problem  of  securing  standard 
grades  of  produce  on  the  farm  at  the  time  of  shipment;  (2)  the 
problem  of  transporting  that  produce  from  the  farmer's  gate  to  the 
city  retailer  or  consumer;  (3)  the  minimizing  of  distribution  costs 
within  the  city. 

These  three  problems,  while  simple  in  statement,  are  different  for 
every  city  and  their  ramifications  are  most  diverse  and  complex. 
Each  city  must  consider  its  own  problems  and  solve  them  for  itself. 
There  is  no  one  panacea  for  the  solution  of  lower  food  costs;  and 
means  adaptable  to  one  city  for  getting  into  closer  touch  with  the 
farmers  round  about,  while  keeping  in  the  most  economic  relation 
with  a  diversified  food  supply,  are  not,  necessarily,  adapted  to 
another. 

THE  NEED  FOR  STANDARDIZATION. 

The  rapid  increase  in  land  values 1  and  the  rise  in  the  cost  of  farm 
labor  indicate  very  definitely  that  production  costs  will  probably 
increase  in  the  future. 

The  city  may  be  able  to  do  something  effectively  in  lowering 
production  costs  to  the  farmer.  This  can  be  done  through  encourag- 

i  During  the  decade  between  1900  and  1910,  the  value  of  all  farm  lands  in  the  United  States 
increased  from  $13,058,000,000  to  $28,476,000,000 — equivalent  to  118.1  per  cent.  During  this 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  5 

ing  intensive  farming,  co-operative  buying  by  farmers,  and  by  dis- 
seminating information  as  to  farm  management,  seeds,  soils  and 
other  essentials  to  scientific  agriculture.  But  the  city's  own  prob- 
lem is  the  distribution  problem. 

If  the  city  is  to  lower  the  farmer's  marketing  costs  and  feed  its 
residents  with  food  routed  in  a  way  leading  to  maximum  conserva- 
tion and  minimum  costs,  it  must  interest  itself  definitely  in  the 
grading,  packing,  sorting  and  standardizing  of  food  products  on  the 
farm.  It  may  seem  a  far  cry  from  city  food  costs  to  the  standardi- 
zation of  foods  and  packages  but  the  relationship  is  most  definite 
and  intimate. 

The  chairman  of  this  committee  asked  the  246  members  of  the 
Vegetable  Growers'  Association  of  America  to  state  the  advantages 
that  would  accrue  to  them  and  to  dealers  and  consumers  through 
the  standardization  of  foodstuffs  and  packages.  Some  of  these 
advantages  given  by  the  growers  were :  Lowering  of  costs ;  conven- 
ience of  handling;  the  saving  of  time;  producer  and  consumer  know 
what  they  are  giving  and  getting;  enables  the  grower  to  quote 
correctly  in  order  to  meet  competition;  the  goods  are  more  wisely 
handled ;  better  satisfaction  is  given  and  buying  and  selling  are  made 
easier  by  having  one  price  for  each  grade  of  goods. 

Mr.  Paul  Work,  Superintendent  and  Instructor  in  the  Department 
of  Vegetable  Gardening  in  the  New  York  State  College  of  Agri- 
culture, Cornell  University,  and  a  member  of  this  committee,  states 
the  need  for  and  the  advantages  of  the  standardization  of  packages 
for  the  marketing  of  vegetables  as  follows: 

"All  business  is  based  upon  mutual  understandings. 
Misunderstandings  underlie  a  large  proportion  of  business 
difficulties  of  all  sorts,  ill  feeling,  losses,  and  failures.  An 
understanding  is  possible  only  when  the  meaning  of  terms 
is  clear  as  between  parties.  It  has  been  long  evident  that 
the  situation  as  regards  packages  for  vegetable  handling 
is  most  unsatisfactory.  A  perusal  of  the  quotation 
columns  of  a  market  periodical  like  The  New  York  Packer 
reveals  the  fact  that  prices  are  stated  in  terms  of  quantities, 
containers,  and  measures  which  are  very  frequently  in- 
comparable. As  a  result,  these  quotations  are  well-nigh 

period  the  following  increases  in  land  value  are  shown  for  the  various  states:  Minnesota,  82  per  cent; 
South  Dakota,  377  per  cent;  Florida,  204  per  cent;  Oklahoma,  334  per  cent;  California,  108  per 
cent;  Illinois,  104  per  cent;  etc.  Nearing — "Increases  of  American  Land  Values." 


6  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

unintelligible,  save  to  one  who  gives  his  whole  time  to  the 
produce  trade.  The  grower  and  the  retailer  who  are 
interested  in  knowing  market  conditions  as  they  exist 
throughout  the  country  find  these  columns  of  much  less 
value  than  they  should  be. 

"The  diversity  of  packages  results  in  innumerable 
misunderstandings.  A  retailer  orders  a  certain  number 
of  hampers  of  beans  expecting  bushel  hampers  which  he 
has  been  receiving  from  day  to  day.  The  wholesale 
merchant  has  been  handling  both  bushel  and  half-barrel 
hampers.  A  clerk,  perhaps  with  no  way  of  knowing  the 
grocer's  customary  requirements,  or  perhaps  through 
sheer  carelessness,  sends  half-barrel  hampers.  The  grocer 
finds  himself  with  fifty  per  cent  more  beans  on  his  hands 
than  his  trade  calls  for.  Loss  and  disagreement  with  the 
wholesaler  are  the  result. 

"Even  more  insidious  are  the  losses  due  to  differences 
in  packages  under  the  same  name  which  are  not  conspic- 
uous to  the  eye.  Celery  crates  that  are  in  common  use 
differ  in  each  of  the  horizontal  dimensions  by  one  inch  or 
more.  This  minimum  difference  would  not  be  noticed 
unless  the  crates  stand  side  by  side,  but  it  is  sufficient  to 
make  a  difference  of  a  dozen  stalks  more  or  less  in  its 
capacity.  As  a  result  of  this  condition,  either  one  grower 
is  consciously  or  unconsciously  giving  short  measure  or 
another  grower  is  suffering  the  loss  of  approximately  eight 
per  cent  by  using  an  over-sized  crate. 

"These  are  mere  examples  of  conditions  which  have 
appeared  through  general  observation  and  through  in- 
vestigations such  as  the  report  by  Mr.  M.  H.  Schonour 
for  this  committee. 

"Standardization  results,  where  it  is  in  force,  in  a  very 
material  saving  in  the  original  cost  of  packages.  The 
smaller  the  variety  of  containers  which  are  manufactured, 
the  greater  the  economy  of  production.  This  applies  to 
the  packages  which  are  used  on  local  markets  as  well  as 
those  which  are  shipped.  The  Cleveland  market  has  for 
years  been  accustomed  to  the  use  of  returnable  crates  and 
boxes,  most  of  them  holding  approximately  a  bushel. 
Formerly  each  grower  designed  his  own  box  and  had  his 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  7 

material  sawed  out  to  order  in  a  lumber  mill.  When  John 
Jones  needed  fifty  crates,  the  mill  man  found  it  necessary 
to  adjust  his  machinery  for  this  small  order  and  then  re- 
adjust it  for  the  next  job.  The  growers,  through  their 
local  association,  decided  upon  standard  dimensions. 
Thereafter  the  box  manufacturers  were  able  at  slack  times 
to  saw  out  a  large  quantity  of  stock  material  and  then, 
when  Mr.  Jones  came  for  twenty-five  crates,  it  was  neces- 
sary only  to  take  the  pieces  of  the  various  kinds  from  their 
piles  and  load  them  on  the  wagon  without  interruption 
of  the  other  work  that  was  being  carried  on.  This  re- 
sulted in  a  very  material  reduction  in  the  cost  of  the  boxes. 

"Standardization  means  greater  convenience  in  packing 
produce  and  particularly  in  loading  in  cars.  When  un- 
standardized  boxes  are  to  be  loaded  on  a  car,  an  economical 
plan  must  be  worked  out  for  each  type,  and  the  loading  of 
mixed  cars  results  in  considerable  inconvenience  and  loss 
of  time  with  consequent  increased  expense. 

"So  far  I  have  spoken  of  the  direct  advantages  of  stand- 
ardization in  itself.  Standardization  will  necessarily  mean 
considerable  changes  in  the  forms  and  dimensions  of 
containers  now  in  use.  These  changes  should  always  be 
made  not  merely  with  the  idea  of  securing  uniformity  but 
with  the  idea  of  securing  better  packages  as  well.  Many 
of  the  containers  now  in  use  are  not  well  adapted  to  the 
crops  which  are  packed  in  them.  Cauliflower,  for  in- 
stance, is  widely  sold  in  barrels.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
delicate  and  most  fancy  vegetables  with  which  we  have 
to  deal.  Yet  it  is  packed  in  second-hand  barrels  which 
have  already  made  one  or  more  trips  to  market.  The 
barrel  does  not  show  the  contents  to  advantage,  and  it 
encourages  no  end  of  rough  usage;  for  the  barrel  repre- 
sents the  strongest  form  in  which  a  given  amount  of  wood 
can  be  fashioned  into  a  container  of  a  given  capacity. 
The  better  growers  are  turning  to  the  use  of  crates  of 
various  sorts  which  are  much  better  adapted  to  the  market- 
ing of  this  high  grade  product. 

"There  is  wide  variation  of  form  and  construction  in 
packages  of  given  dimensions.  The  points  to  be  borne 
in  mind  in  this  connection  are  protection  for  the  contents, 


THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

strength,  and  cost.  Various  arrangements  of  solid  and 
framed  ends,  the  use  of  corner  posts,  the  nailing  and  stitch- 
ing of  material,  and  the  use  of  hoops  and  braces  must  all 
be  considered. 

"For  the  marketing  of  high  grade  produce,  there  is  a 
distinct  tendency  toward  the  smaller  sizes  of  packages. 
This  results  in  better  protection  for  the  contents  and  to  an 
increasing  extent  does  away  with  the  necessity  of  handling 
the  contents  before  they  are  delivered  to  the  consumer.  In 
other  words,  a  'farm-to-family'  package  is  desirable 
whether  it  is  shipped  directly  or  whether  it  goes  through 
the  hands  of  middlemen.  The  repacking  and  sorting  of 
vegetables  on  the  part  of  the  various  middlemen  invariably 
result  in  loss  which  falls  eventually  upon  either  the 
producer  or  the  consumer. 

"It  would  be  hard  to  find  anyone  to  disagree  with  the 
idea  that  standardization  of  packages  for  vegetable  market- 
ing is  thoroughly  desirable,  but  there  would  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  finding  those  who  would  hold  that  the  proposal 
is  thoroughly  impractical.  It  may  be  granted  at  once  that 
standardization  can  be  reached  only  through  years  of 
gradual  progress.  Probably  the  most  important  factor 
in  this  progress  will  be  education,  directed  particularly 
toward  the  producers  of  the  crops  but  also  toward  the 
manufacturers.  While  those  who  supply  packages  to  the 
growers  furnish  the  types  that  are  demanded,  yet  they 
are  constantly  working  toward  the  reduction  of  the  number 
of  lines  which  they  must  carry.  Growers  are  giving  more 
thought  every  year  to  their  packages.  When  this  thought 
is  undirected,  it  results  in  diversification  rather  than  stand- 
ardization, because  every  man's  ideas  are  different  from 
those  of  his  neighbor.  Accordingly,  the  intervention  of 
some  central  agency  or  agencies  is  absolutely  necessary. 
There  must  be  a  clearing  house  of  some  sort  or  other. 
This  is  a  problem  for  a  national  organization  rather  than 
for  state  or  local  groups.  The  Vegetable  Growers'  Asso- 
ciation of  America  would  be  the  logical  body  to  undertake 
this  work  in  connection  with  the  work  which  it  has  already 
begun  with  regard  to  weights  and  measures.  A  bureau 
of  standardization  for  packages  might  be  established.  The 


THE  REPORT  OF   THE  COMMITTEE  9 

first  task  would  be  to  secure  from  some  source  or  other 
full  and  accurate  data  regarding  the  packages  which  are 
now  in  use.  This  would  involve  a  vast  amount  of  study 
of  the  type  which  Mr.  Schonour  has  carried  forward  for  a 
limited  district  and  for  a  certain  season. 

"When  the  time  comes  for  the  promulgation  of  standards, 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  great  flexibility  will  be  re- 
quired. Conditions  in  producing  centers  and  conditions 
on  markets  vary  almost  infinitely,  and  it  will  never  be 
possible  to  bring  the  list  of  approved  containers  down  to 
very  small  limits,  although  the  elimination  of  many  of 
the  present  types  will  be  possible.  Perhaps  the  best 
method  would  be  the  method  of  registration.  Thus,  if  a 
manufacturer  or  grower  proposed  the  use  of  a  new  package 
and  desired  the  approval  of  the  bureau,  he  would  submit 
his  plans  and  his  dimensions.  If  it  were  clear  that  this 
variant  package  would  be  useful  under  a  certain  set  of 
conditions,  registration  would  be  granted;  if,  however,  it 
were  found  that  some  other  package  were  practically 
identical  with  an  insignificant  difference  in  dimension,  the 
bureau  would  recommend  this  slight  change.  Accordingly, 
instead  of  an  indefinite  number  of  crates  carrying  two 
dozen  heads  of  lettuce,  we  should  need  but  three  or  four 
constructed  to  accommodate  the  various  sizes  of  heads 
which  are  always  to  be  found.  For  melons  we  would 
perhaps  have  three  or  four  different  sizes  of  crates  designed 
to  carry  forty-five  melons,  as  does  the  Colorado  crate  of 
the  present.  Then  there  would  have  to  be  a  few  standard 
sizes  of  flat  crates.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  are 
dealing  with  the  products  of  nature,  and  these  products 
can  never  be  standardized  in  the  way  that  products  of 
the  factory  are  standardized. 

"Such  a  bureau  could  gain  its  authority  only  from  the 
intrinsic  worth  of  its  work  and  the  willingness  of  the 
growers  to  recognize  its  value  and  to  be  governed  accord- 
ingly. 

"Legislation  may  eventually  play  a  part  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  standardization.  Any  laws  that  may  be 
enacted  should,  however,  represent  not  an  effort  to  force 
the  ideas  of  a  single  group  upon  the  other  interested  groups 


10  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

without  due  consideration  of  their  requirements,  but 
rather  should  represent  the  agreement  of  the  best  thought 
which  is  to  be  found  among  producers,  transportation 
men,  middlemen,  and  consumers.  The  violent  disagree- 
ments incident  to  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
legislation  are  usually  due  to  a  failure  to  observe  this 
principle.  Those  who  have  the  broadest  viewpoint  and 
the  soundest  judgment  and  the  highest  respect  of  their 
colleagues,  no  matter  in  which  of  these  fields  they  are 
engaged,  can  usually  come  to  an  agreement  regarding 
measures  that  will  be  best  for  all  concerned. " 

An  examination  of  the  appended  report  on  "  Vegetable  Packages 
in  Eastern  Markets"  will  emphasize  the  need  for  standardization 
if  such  emphasis  be  needed.  Efficiency  and  economy  will  never 
be  attained  in  food  distribution  so  long  as  beans  are  shipped  in 
bushel  hampers,  five-eighths  bushel  baskets,  barrels,  bushel  boxes, 
one-third  bushel  boxes  and  burlap  bags;  and  lettuce  by  bushel 
hampers,  five-eighths  bushel  baskets,  crates,  Boston  boxes,  sound 
stave  baskets,  hamper  baskets  or  crates  as  fits  the  fancy  of  the 
grower  or  the  tradition  of  the  local  market.  The  growing,  selling, 
shipping,  buying,  retailing  and  consuming  of  goods  will  approach 
a  science  only  when  state  and  nation-wide  standards  are  adopted 
in  grades  and  in  packages. 

Standardization  in  grades  and  packages  is  a  problem  that  the 
city  must  interest  itself  in  if  the  economies  and  advantages  accruing 
therefrom  are  to  be  vouchsafed  to  its  residents.  This  means, 
among  other  things,  the  encouragement  of  co-operative  selling  by 
outlying  farmers,  for  no  other  agency  has  as  yet  been  devised  which 
indicates  so  clearly  to  the  farmers  themselves  the  advantages  of 
standard  packages  and  goods  sans  misstatements  and  questionable 
practices  as  does  co-operation.  The  nationalization  of  the  market 
means  the  nationalization  of  the  product  and  the  package.  Such 
nationalization  based  on  local  usages  can  be  secured  by  (1)  the 
co-operation  of  the  growers  themselves,  (2)  activities  of  city  market 
bureaus  which  will  inform  their  growers  round  about  of  the  standard 
needs  of  that  particular  city,  (3)  activities  of  state  market  and 
weights  and  measures  bureaus,  and,  finally,  (4)  by  national  stand- 
ardization through  the  national  bureau  of  markets  and  national 
legislation. 


THE  REPORT  OF   THE  COMMITTEE  11 

FOOD  TRANSPORTATION 

The  city's  food  transportation  problem  can,  for  sake  of  discussion, 
be  best  classified  as  (1)  steam  railway  facilities  with  special  reference 
to  terminal  facilities  within  the  city;  (2)  the  frequency  of  market 
trains  and  the  adequacy  of  refrigerated  cars  and  trains;  (3)  the  ex- 
tended use  of  the  five  billion  dollars  invested  in  electric  trolley  lines 
in  this  country  for  a  more  direct,  efficient  and  economical  distribu- 
tion of  food  produce;  and  (4)  better  agencies  for  local  distribution 
such  as  good  roads,  encouragement  of  shipments  by  parcels  post  and 
express,  the  development  of  waterfronts  and  navigable  streams,  and 
extended  use  of  the  motor  truck. 

In  answer  to  the  question  referred  to  the  members  of  the  Vege- 
table Growers'  Association  of  America,  as  to  practical  changes 
needed  for  shipping  facilities,  several  indicated  that  their  greatest 
need  was  for  more  facilities  for  direct  marketing.  Still  others 
indicated  a  need  that  is  unquestionably  prevalent  over  the  country : 
better  roads.  Many  indicated  their  need  for  facilities  for  reaching 
wider  markets,  such  as  more  icing  stations;  greater  facilities  for 
refrigerator  cars;  better  train  service,  with  trains  running  on  time 
so  that  the  vegetables  would  not  reach  the  market  "six  or  eight 
hours  late",  for  that  day's  market  "and,  therefore,  must  lay  over 
a  day";  motor  trucks,  and  trolley  freight.  Co-operation  among 
the  growers  in  their  shipments  was  urged  in  order  that  wider  and 
more  distant  markets  could  be  reached.  Others  urged  more  reliable 
fast  freight  service,  and  "the  gentler  handling  of  express  shipments 
and  prompt  delivery  of  freight. " 

Trolley  Freight 

The  Pittsburgh  &  Butler  Railway  Company  submits  the  follow- 
ing as  the  cost  to  the  commission  merchants  from  the  time  the 
company  receives  the  produce  at  the  shipping  point  until  it  is 
delivered  into  their  hands;  for  articles  in  group  No.  3,  the  average 
mileage  haul  into  Pittsburgh. 


Articles 

Frt.  chg. 

per  ton 

Vegetables  N.  O.  S  

$1.80 

Beets  

1.80 

Celery  

80 

Corn  

80 

Potatoes  

50 

Tomatoes  

80 

Rhubarb  

80 

Cabbage  

1.50 

Apples  

1.80 

Berries  

2.70 

Grapes  

1.80 

Melons  

1.80 

Peaches  

2.70 

Pears  

1.80 

Milk  (per  gallon)  
Poultry  (alive)  

02 
3.60 

Eggs  (per  doz.  on  ton  basis)  

154 

12  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

Dray  delv.  Total 

per  ton 

$2.00  $3.80 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  3.50 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  3.50 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  4.70 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  3.80 

2.00  4.70 

2.00  3.80 

.09*  .111 

2.00  5.60 

.17  .325 

The  drayage  delivery  cost  per  ton  includes  only  the  drayage 
cost  from  the  freight  station  to  the  houses  of  the  commission  mer- 
chants and  does  not  include  the  drayage  cost  to  jobber  or  to  retailer 
or  any  drayage  cost  after  the  produce  has  been  sold  to  the  commis- 
sion men. 

The  features  of  trolley  freight  that  make  it  especially  significant 
to  cities  are : 

1.  A  low  cost  of  farmer's  haul  to  station  because  of  frequent 
stops  at  small  outlay. 

2.  Regions  are    tapped  inadequately  served    by  other  carriers, 
thus  placing  many  farmers  several  hours  nearer  the  city's  markets. 

3.  Produce  can  be  shipped  in  small  quantities,  thus  giving  a 
new  avenue  for  marketing  the  surplus  of  small  farmers  and  focusing 
attention  upon  the  nature  of  the  output  of  all  farmers. 

4.  Goods  can  be  marketed  in  a  fresher  condition,  thus  giving 
the  consumer  better  goods  and  the  farmer  better  prices. 

5.  Shipments  reach  sections  of  the  city  not  reached  by  railroad 
terminals,  thus  making  possible  the  distribution  of  food  products 
to  the  needier  sections  of  the  large  city  and  exactly  to  the  market 
center  in  the  small  city. 

6.  Facilities  for  getting  the  output  of  manufacturing  establish- 
ments to  railroad  stations,  and  from  the  city  to  outlying  suburbs  and 
farmers,  are  increased,  thereby  enhancing  both  urban  and  farm 
values. 

Mr.  Samuel  S.  Fels,  one  of  the  leading  manufacturers  of  Phila- 
delphia, not  only  is  convinced  of  the  value  of  the  development  of 


THE  REPORT  OF   THE  COMMITTEE  13 

trolley  freight,  but  believes  in  addition  that  the  trolley  freight 
companies  can,  with  profit  to  themselves  and  more  especially  to 
consumers,  undertake  the  added  function  of  acting  as  well  as  agent 
for  the  producing  regions  on  their  lines.  On  this  point  Mr.  Fels 
says: 

"In  the  United  States  trolley  freight  thus  far  has  been 
developed  primarily  along  lines  of  bringing  in  such  produce 
as  the  farmer  cared  to  ship  in  that  way,  leaving  the  farmer 
to  sell  through  traditional  trade  channels.  No  constructive 
policy  has  been  devised  that  relieves  the  farmer  of  taking 
the  time  necessary  to  find  his  market  and  sell  his  produce, 
or  that  utilizes,  to  anything  like  their  maximum  possi- 
bilities, the  power  and  equipment  of  the  traction  lines 
not  in  use  from  eleven  or  twelve  o'clock  at  night  until 
five  or  six  in  the  morning. 

"A  virile  constructive  program  for  the  maximum  devel- 
opment of  trolley  freight  would  mean  that  the  company 
would:  (1)  Instruct  the  farmers  in  packing  and  sorting 
their  produce  for  the  market  of  the  particular  city  to 
which  they  are  to  ship;  (2)  Fix  the  grades  of  produce 
to  be  put  into  the  various  containers;  (3)  Standardize 
the  containers  in  which  such  produce  would  be  shipped; 
(4)  Assume  the  responsibility  for  selling  all  produce 
sorted,  graded  and  packed  as  specified  by  the  company. 

"By  these  means,  the  traction  company  would  ef- 
fectively : 

"(a)  Standardize  produce  so  that  it  could  be  fitted  for 
direct  shipment  to  the  wholesaler,  the  retailer  and  the 
consumer  respectively. 

"(b)  Through  a  specialized  selling  department,  could 
find  a  better  market  than  the  farmer  could  ever  be  suf- 
ficiently expert  to  find. 

"(c)  Save  the  farmer  the  trouble,  the  expense  and  the 
time  incident  to  marketing  his  produce. 

"(d)  Make  possible  the  disposal  of  an  over-abundance 
of  a  particular  commodity,  such  as  sweet  potatoes  or  onions, 
either  by  collecting  these  into  carlot  shipments  to  other 
markets  or  by  advertising  in  the  newspapers  that  a  choice 
lot  of  such  and  such  an  article  could  be  had  on  that  day 
at  prices  quoted. 


14  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

"(e)  Open  the  way  for  lower  food  costs  through  lower 
distribution  costs. 

"By  this  plan  the  farmers  would  have  to  put  up  their 
goods  in  a  method  adapted  to  the  market  and  in  containers 
which  met  the  standard  fixed  by  the  traction  company. 
The  company  could,  in  effect,  thus  force  the  farmers  to 
standardize  their  packages  instead  of  waiting  until  they 
did  so  of  their  own  volition.  Farmers  who  did  not  do 
this  would  soon  learn  that  their  produce  did  not  bring 
top  prices.  Moreover  the  containers  could  be  furnished 
by  the  company  at  small  cost,  because  bought  in  large 
quantities,  and  could  be  used  over  and  over  again,  to  the 
more  efficient  utilization  of  invested  capital.  The  company 
would  receive  the  produce  offered  by  all  shippers,  to  be 
sure,  but  it  would  offer  special  selling  advantages  to  those 
farmers  who  shipped  in  the  method  and  by  the  standards 
laid  down  by  the  traction  company.  The  express  com- 
panies are  now  working  out  such  a  plan. 

"Freight  distribution  by  trolley  lines  is  also  capable  of 
vast  development  in  the  distribution  of  freight  from  the 
steam  terminal  to  the  particular  section  of  the  city  where 
needed.  Just  as  the  trolley  in  the  country  can  stop  from 
farm  to  farm,  or  at  least  every  two  or  three  miles,  so  in 
the  city  there  could  be  a  goodly  number  of  freight  termi- 
nals, at  relatively  small  expense,  to  which  could  be  sent, 
not  only  the  produce  shipped  from  the  outlying  country, 
but  also  the  packages  and  freight  en  route  to  steam 
terminals." 

The  principle  underlying  Mr.  Fels'  recommendation  has  been 
partially  put  in  practice  by  certain  of  the  trolley  companies.  Thus 
the  Lehigh  Valley  Transit  Company  has  a  Commission  and  Order 
Department  which  assists  the  farmers  in  finding  buyers  for  their 
goods  and  assists  commission  merchants  in  locating  produce.  The 
objection  that  arises  at  once  to  the  extended  functions  of  trolley 
lines,  suggested  by  Mr.  Fels,  is  the  advisability  of  extending 
the  functions  of  transportation  companies,  so  as  to  include  other 
vital  public  duties  than  transportation.  As  a  rule,  the  trolley  com- 
panies that  carry  small  shipments  for  farmers  have  the  full  confi- 
dence of  the  farmers.  The  success  of  Mr.  Fels'  suggestions  hinges 


THE  REPORT  OF   THE  COMMITTEE  15 

on  the  continuance  of  this  confidence.  But  we  have  not  yet  secured, 
in  many  places,  the  confidence  between  trolley  companies,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  farmers  and  city  residents,  on  the  other,  that  would 
be  essential  to  the  well  working  out  of  this  scheme.  Mr.  Fels' 
answer  to  this  objection  is  that  the  company's  sincerity  would  be 
judged  by  its  success.  If  the  farmers  did  not  actually  secure  more 
through  these  channels,  at  greater  convenience,  than  they  could  se- 
cure through  other  channels,  they  would  naturally  not  patronize  the 
company,  and,  if  retail  buyers  or  consumers  did  not  get  satisfactory 
service  and  prices,  they,  too,  would  buy  elsewhere. 

Whether  or  not  the  extended  function  suggested  by  Mr.  Fels  is 
granted  to  trolley  companies,  certain  it  is  that  their  greater  devel- 
opment for  the  handling  of  less  than  carload  shipments  and  for 
freight  distribution  within  the  cities  is  the  most  significant  step 
that  can  be  taken  by  cities  for  assuring  a  more  efficient  distribution 
of  foodstuffs.  No  testimony  speaks  more  glowingly  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  trolley  freight  than  do  the  facts  as  to  the  increase  in 
receipts  therefrom  by  the  companies  themselves.  The  freight 
receipts  to  street  and  electric  railways  in  the  United  States  increased 
from  $1,038,097  in  1902  to  $10,165,616  in  1912  and  the  receipts 
from  carrying  baggage,  express  and  milk  in  addition  increased  in 
the  same  decade  from  $401,672  to  $3,687,947.  During  this  period 
the  total  operating  revenue  increased  from  $247,553,999  to  $567,- 
511,704. 

LOWER  URBAN   DISTRIBUTION   COSTS 

The  third  big  problem  has  to  do  with  lowering  urban  distribution 
costs,  for  it  is  after  the  food  has  reached  the  city  that  the  major 
portion  of  food  costs  are  piled  up.  Many  studies  have  been  made 
as  to  the  various  cost  factors  in  food  distribution.  These  all  agree 
in  showing  that  food  costs  are  doubled  after  the  food  has  reached 
the  city.  Typical  of  the  price  accumulations  shown  by  these  vari- 
ous studies  are  the  examples  given  to  the  chairman  of  this  committee 
by  the  leading  vegetable  growers  of  America  of  prices  paid  by  con- 
sumers as  compared  with  the  prices  received  by  the  growers  for 
specific  grades  of  produce  on  specific  dates.  One  grower  says  that, 
on  a  Saturday  in  July,  he  went  around  among  the  retailers  of  Phil- 
adelphia to  see  what  the  consumers  were  paying  for  lettuce  and 
beets.  He  found  the  prevailing  price  to  be  around  5  cents  per  head 
or  bunch.  On  the  same  date,  he  received  less  than  half  a  cent  for 


16  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

lettuce  and  75  cents  per  hundred  for  beets.  Green  house  lettuce, 
for  which  another  grower  received  from  3  to  5  cents,  was  retailed 
for  15  cents.  Tomatoes  were  sold  by  the  grower  in  July  at  10  cents 
a  pound,  and  retailed  the  same  day  at  15  or  20  cents  a  pound. 
Asparagus  for  which  the  grower  received  12  cents  in  June  retailed 
at  22  cents;  celery,  for  which  the  grower  received  20  to  25  cents, 
was  sold  by  the  retailer  at  40  cents;  oranges,  sold  at  8|  cents  a  dozen, 
were  retailed  by  the  dealer  the  same  day  for  20  cents  a  dozen.  Some 
general  statements  were  that  "the  retailers  make  65  per  cent"; 
"the  difference  in  price  between  what  the  consumer  pays  and  what 
the  producer  gets  ranges  from  100  to  300  per  cent";  and  that  "the 
consumer  nearly  always  pays  the  usual  price  no  matter  how  much 
the  grower  gets." 

The  cost  of  items  added  to  each  of  the  various  steps  in  the  dis- 
tribution process  was  given  in  typical  cases  as  follows:  "I  bought 
apples  from  the  farmers  at  40  to  50  cents  a  bushel,  and  packed  them 
in  bushel  lots  with  covers,  at  a  cost  of  15  cents;  express  to  Danville 
was  40  cents;  freight,  34  cents  per  100  pounds;  the  wholesaler 
received  a  commission  of  10  cents,  and  sold  to  grocers  at  $1.00  per 
bushel.  The  grocer  retailed  them  at  $1.50  per  peck,  or  $2.00  per 
bushel."  This  grower  adds:  " I  fear  the  commission  men  charged 
10  cents  for  selling  at  $1.00,  but  really  sold  at  $1.25,  as  10  cents 
would  not  let  him  out  whole  and  deliver  to  stores."  Another  grower 
received,  on  September  14,  15  cents  for  a  box  of  celery.  To  this  a 
cost  of  3  cents  per  dozen  was  added  for  express,  and  22  cents  for 
retailer's  profit,  the  box  being  sold  to  the  consumer  at  40  cents,  an 
increase  of  166  per  cent  over  the  producer's  prices.  One  grower 
received  10  cents  per  pound  for  greenhouse  lettuce,  the  commission 
and  shipping  added  2  cents  per  pound  to  the  cost  to  the  grocer, 
who  sold  it  at  18  to  20  cents.  Another  grower  itemized  his  shipping 
expenses  as  follows:  Freight  to  New  York,  10  cents  per  barrel; 
cartage,  12  cents;  cost  of  barrel,  40  cents;  total  62  cents  per  barrel. 

One  of  the  professors  of  economics  of  the  country  has  recently 
stated  that  this  price  accumulation  is  no  more  remarkable  than 
that  a  box  of  matches  can  be  bought  for  five  cents;  that  both  are 
matters  to  be  wondered  at,  to  be  sure,  but  nothing  is  to  be  done 
about  them.  But  if  half  the  residents  of  cities  were  paying  half 
their  incomes  for  matches,  we  would  be  definitely  interested  in 
making  inquiry  as  to  whether  or  not,  after  all,  the  number  of 
matches  in  a  box  is  so  extraordinary,  and  whether  the  number 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  17 

might  be  increased,  or  the  price  diminished,  through  proper  civic 
action. 

The  " middleman"  some  have  held  to  be  responsible  for  all  these 
added  urban  costs.  It  is,  therefore,  well  to  inquire  here  just  who 
this  middleman  is  and  what  functions  he  performs.  There  is  first 
of  all  the  country  buyer  who  locates  the  produce,  assembles  it  into 
carload  lots,  chooses  the  best  market  and  finds  a  buyer.  His  are  the 
risks  of  falling  prices,  farmers'  misrepresentations  and  deterioration. 
The  wholesale  receiver  handles  produce,  as  a  rule  in  car  or  train 
lots.  He  locates  quantities  in  the  country  and  hunts  buyers,  usu- 
ally the  jobber.  He  inspects  goods,  and  repacks  and  resorts  them 
for  the  trade.  He  often  furnishes  credit  and  advances  money. 
Indeed,  90  per  cent  of  the  farm  produce  is  marketed  on  borrowed 
funds,  a  large  portion  of  which  is  obtained  through  the  middleman, 
usually  the  wholesaler  or  jobber.  The  jobber  breaks  up  carlots  and 
sells  to  retailers.  He  is  the  specialist  in  what  retailers  want  and 
wholesalers  have  to  sell.  He  must  often  sort  and  repack  to  suit  the 
retailer.  He  is  the  agent  through  which  retailers  get  exactly  the 
grade  and  quantity  of  produce  suited  to  their  needs.  Both  the 
jobber  and  the  wholesale  receiver  must  take  the  responsibilities  for 
the  conservation  of  their  foodstuffs  whether  by  cold  storage  or  other 
means.  The  organizations  of  commission  men  and  jobbers  in  the 
various  produce  exchanges  of  the  country  have  distinct  functions, 
such  as  formulating  the  ethical  and  business  standards  for  their 
members,  establishing  grades,  and  often  passing  upon  excess  charges 
and  other  irregularities  of  their  members.  The  functions  of  the 
retailer  are  so  evident  as  to  need  no  mention  here. 

It  is  apparent,  therefore,  that,  under  present  usages  as  to  sorting, 
packing,  standardizing  and  conserving  food  products,  all  four  types 
of  middlemen — the  country  buyer,  the  wholesale  receiver,  the  jobber 
and  the  retailer — will  long  be  with  us. 

It  is  a  good  maxim  of  social  efficiency  that  costs  can  best  be  low- 
ered through  giving  every  facility  to  business  men,  and  through 
existing  business  channels.  If  prices  will  not  ultimately  be  lowered 
through  lowering  actual  costs,  then  the  case  is  indeed  hopeless. 
Moreover  it  may  safely  be  assumed  that,  if  costs  could  have  been 
and  can  be  lowered,  business  men  would  long  since  have  garnered  in 
these  savings.  That  is  just  what  has  happened.  The  significant 
fact  of  the  last  two  decades  has  been  that  the  various  types  of  busi- 
ness men  engaged  in  the  handling  of  produce — the  farmer,  the  coun- 


18  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

try  buyer,  the  wholesale  receiver,  the  jobber,  the  retailer — are  en- 
larging their  business  units  so  as  to  include  all  or  several  of  the  steps 
in  distribution.  The  farmer  is  now  selling  more  largely,  whether 
singly  or  co-operatively,  to  the  retailer  or  consumer,  the  country 
buyer  to  the  retailer  and  consumer;  the  commission  merchant  is 
turning  jobber  and  buying  direct  from  the  farmer  in  order  to  sell  to 
the  retailer;  the  retailers  are  buying  from  the  farmers  direct  and 
the  cash-buying  jobber  is  rapidly  displacing  the  old  type  of  country 
store-man  as  the  country  buyer,  and  he,  too,  is  selling  as  directly  as 
possible.  While  each  of  these  types  of  middlemen  will  long  persist, 
food  prices  in  the  future,  therefore,  will  not  be  based,  as  they  now 
are,  on  the  cost  of  routing  food  through  all  of  these  classes.  The 
route  is  definitely  to  be  shortened. 

This  tendency  is  reflected  in  the  answers  sent  in  by  the  vegetable 
growers.  Of  the  183  who  reported,  5  sold  directly  to  retailers,  and 
22,  or  1  out  of  8,  to  consumers.  It  certainly  comes  as  a  matter 
of  news  to  city  dwellers  that  nearly  one-half  of  the  vegetable 
growers  in  this  association  sell  either  to  retailers  or  consumers.  Nor 
are  the  vegetable  growers  limiting  themselves  to  any  one  of  these 
five  outlets  for  their  goods.  Thus,  of  the  183  who  responded,  17 
sold  to  all  five,  that  is,  to  wholesaler,  cash-buying  jobbers,  local 
purchasers,  the  retailer  and  the  consumer.  Seven  more  sold  to 
wholesalers,  cash-buying  jobbers,  local  purchasers  and  retailers. 
Others  sold  to  two  or  three  of  these. 

It  is  in  this  shorter  route  from  producer  to  consumer  that  urban 
distribution  costs  will  ultimately  be  lowered,  and  greater  social 
efficiency  attained.  Evidently  the  sanest  way  to  hasten  this  lower 
cost  is  to  grant  to  each  of  the  various  types  of  business  men  indi- 
cated above  the  facilities  needed  for  placing  their  business  on  the 
most  efficient  and  best  possible  economic  foundation.  Let  us  give 
consideration  then  to  the  facilities  needed  by  each  of  those  who 
handle  food  products  from  the  farmer  to  the  consumer  to  see  what 
the  city  can  do  to  lower  their  costs  and  make  their  business  units 
more  efficient  and  stable. 


THE  REPORT  OF   THE  COMMITTEE  19 

FACILITIES  FOR  THE  FARMERS 

It  costs  slightly  over  one  dollar  in  twenty  of  the  entire  wholesale 
value  of  farm  products  to  haul  goods  from  the  farm  to  the  shipping 
point.  Consumers  are  paying  many  times  over  the  eighty-five 
million  dollars,  and  more,  that  our  farmers  are  spending  annually 
in  marketing  their  output. 

Among  the  more  mobile,  cheaper  and  more  effective  agencies  that 
are  at  hand  for  distributing  farm  produce,  and  greatly  reducing 
the  costs  incident  thereto,  may  be  mentioned  the  development  of 
good  inter-county  roads.  These  are  of  distinct  significance  in 
reducing  hours  to  market  by  heavier  loads  and  ease  of  shipment. 
Good  roads  centering  in  good  urban  markets  have  instantly  reflected 
their  advantages  in  higher  farm  values.  The  good  roads  movement 
is  of  importance  to  every  farmer.  With  no  thought  of  deprecating 
the  building  of  good  state  roads,  yet  it  is  clear  that  relatively  few 
farms  can  ever  be  on  state  roads.  As  to  food  distribution  the  need 
is  for  good  dirt  roads  with  easy  grades,  connecting  all  local  farms 
with  their  nearest  market;  not  good  automobile  roads  connecting 
cities  with  cities. 

Co-operation 

A  second  need  is  co-operation,  with  its  accompanying  advan- 
tages. In  the  nineteenth  century  the  farmers'  market  was  the 
nearby  local  merchant,  who  was  constrained  to  give  fair  prices  in 
order  to  retain  the  farmers'  trade.  The  twentieth  century,  however, 
offers  distant  markets  at  cash  prices.  It  consequently  necessitates 
new  marketing  methods.  Goods  must  be  stored,  sorted  to  the 
trade  and  packed  for  longer  shipments.  This  nationalization  of 
the  market  necessitates  the  nationalization  of  marketing  methods. 
This  is  best  attained  for  the  farmer  through  co-operation  because 
of  better  business  management,  better  preservation  and  more  direct 
shipments  with  consequent  elimination  of  waste  and  decay. 

Mr.  Arthur  J.  Anderson  of  this  committee,  editor  of  The  Penn- 
sylvania Farmer,  states  the  status  and  need  for  producers'  co- 
operation as  follows: 

"Improvement  in  marketing  conditions  is  recognized 
by  farmers  as  the  greatest  need  of  their  industry  at  the 
present  time.  The  various  conditions  and  agencies 


20  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

outlined  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs  as  contributing  to 
the  high  cost  of  food  products  to  city  consumers  are  as 
effective  in  depressing  prices  to  the  producers.  In  many 
respects  the  needs  of  consumers  and  producers  in  elim- 
inating the  needless  waste  in  transportation,  handling 
and  distribution  are  identical,  and  remedial  measures  will 
fall  short  of  the  most  permanent  and  broadest  economic 
good  if  they  fail  to  make  production  more  profitable  while 
cheapening  the  cost  to  consumers. 

"Effort  on  the  part  of  farmers  in  improving  marketing 
conditions  has  necessarily  been  slow  of  results,  due  largely 
to  the  lack  of  efficient  organization.  Co-operation  is  the 
theoretical  remedy  sought,  but  as  yet  it  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  progressed  much  beyond  the  theoretical 
stage.  Successful  co-operation  on  a  broad  scale  is  possible 
only  in  well-knit  organizations,  well-trained  in  organiza- 
tion work  and  with  the  spirit  of  co-operation  well  developed. 
American  farmers  have  always  prided  themselves  upon 
their  independence,  and  by  tradition  and  habits  of  thought 
they  have  made  the  merging  of  interests  so  essential  to 
co-operation  most  difficult  at  this  time.  Thus  we  find 
that  while  the  application  of  co-operation  to  marketing 
has  engaged  the  attention  of  the  leaders  among  farmers 
for  the  past  twenty  years,  the  movement  is  still  in  its 
preliminary  stages. 

"Replies  from  state  officials  in  charge  of  the  departments 
of  agriculture  in  30  states  show  only  12  states  in  which 
co-operative  organizations  have  been  perfected  for  general 
buying  and  selling.  Eleven  other  states  report  numerous 
small  local  organizations  co-operating  in  the  purchase  of 
supplies  and  sale  of  products  of  special  industries.  Seven 
of  the  30  states  reporting  show  no  effort  made  in  organized 
•  co-operation.  Reports  of  benefits  resulting  from  co- 
operative effort  indicate  that  the  small  local  unit  is  the 
logical  starting  point  for  such  work.  Greatest  success  is 
reported  from  such  organizations  as  The  Grand  Junction 
Fruit  Growers'  Association  and  the  Rocky  Ford  Canta- 
loupe Growers'  Association  of  Colorado;  the  Monmouth 
County  Exchange  of  New  Jersey;  The  Eastern  Shore 
Produce  Exchange  and  the  Norfolk  Truckers'  Exchange 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE          21 

of  Virginia,  etc.  These  organizations  confine  member- 
ship to  a  local  area  and  confine  their  efforts  to  the  needs 
of  special,  localized  crops.  Benefits  have  resulted  in 
improving  market  facilities,  standardization  of  methods 
of  production,  grading,  packing  and  handling,  giving  a 
better  and  more  uniform  product  and  yielding  a  larger 
net  profit. 

"  These  local  organizations  are  making  most  promising 
growth  and  are  becoming  factors  in  solving  marketing 
problems  over  a  wide  area.  They  include  co-operative 
creameries,  grain  elevators,  exchanges  for  handling  wool, 
potatoes,  alfalfa,  hay,  grain  and  fruits.  They  are  meeting 
the  needs  of  local  communities,  but  perhaps  of  greater 
significance,  they  are  training  their  members  in  organiza- 
tion work  and  preparing  the  way  for  successful  co-opera- 
tion in  the  general  field. 

"  General  co-operation,  i.e.,  the  organization  of  gen- 
eral farmers  for  the  purchase  and  sale  of  general  farm 
merchandise,  has  been  less  successful  and  is  less  promising 
at  this  time.  This  work  has  been  undertaken  largely 
by  such  general  farm  organizations  as  the  Grange,  Farm- 
ers' Union  and  Farmers'  Clubs.  The  difficulty  appears 
to  have  been  a  lack  of  sympathy  and  confidence  necessary 
for  successful  co-operation  over  a  wide  area  and  repre- 
senting a  diversity  of  interests.  If  these  state  and  na- 
tional orders  will  profit  by  the  lessons  of  the  past,  they 
will  confine  future  effort  to  co-operation  in  local  units 
rather  than  in  state-wide  movements. 

"  Co-operation  by  consumers  has  made  even  less  prog- 
ress. Only  four  states  report  organizations  for  this 
purpose.  Minnesota  reports  the  interesting  fact  that 
'  consumers'  co-operation  has  resulted  in  the  development 
of  over  one  hundred  co-operative  stores,  practically  all  of 
which  are  owned  and  controlled  by  farmers  in  villages 
throughout  the  state.'  In  New  York,  consumers'  co- 
operation has  been  undertaken  under  the  direction  of  a 
state  Bureau  of  Co-operation,  with  successful  units  at 
Schenectady,  Albany  and  New  York  City,  composed 
principally  of  working  people  of  foreign  birth  and  train- 
ing. Results  are  reported  as  'phenomenally  successful 


22  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

and  a  great  amount  of  interest  is  being  shown  among 
laboring  people  generally.' 

"So  far  the  states  have  given  very  little  attention  to  the 
organization  of  co-operative  associations  as  a  state  func- 
tion. The  new  departments  of  agricultural  college  exten- 
sion, inaugurated  in  most  of  the  states,  are  expected  to 
take  the  matter  up  in  a  more  or  less  direct  way.  This 
will  be  largely  in  an  educational  capacity,  however,  and 
not  actual  participation  or  leadership  in  the  movement. 
South  Carolina  has  established  a  State  Bureau  of  Market- 
ing which  reports  '  transactions  running  into  thousands  of 
dollars  each  week  and  used  by  farmers  and  merchants  as  a 
clearing  house,  absolutely  eliminating  the  middleman/ 
This  bureau  was  enlarged  by  a  state  act  passed  in  the 
present  session  of  the  legislature  providing  for  a  marketing 
agent  in  each  county  of  the  state.  New  York,  with  its 
Bureau  of  Co-operation,  is  doing  the  most  direct  work. 
It  has  about  50  co-operative  companies  organized  and 
incorporated,  although  in  a  great  majority  of  these,  all 
the  producers  have  as  yet  attempted  is  the  purchase  of 
ordinary  farm  supplies,  seeds,  fertilizers,  machinery,  etc. 

"Farmers'  co-operative  organizations  have  as  yet 
scarcely  touched  the  selling  end.  They  are  doing  much 
in  the  buying  of  farm  supplies,  but  general  merchandising 
business,  establishment  of  stores,  employment  of  selling 
managers,  etc.,  must  wait  until  the  members  learn  how  to 
co-operate,  that  co-operation  pays  and  that  mutual  aid 
is  self-aid.  The  success  of  the  small  local  units  is  pointing 
the  way,  and  there  is  encouragement  in  the  results  they 
are  attaining. 

"The  success  of  the  farmers  in  securing  better  market- 
ing facilities  and  a  higher  net  profit  in  farming  is  of  as 
vital  importance  to  the  cities  as  to  the  farmers  themselves. 
The  general  demand  of  the  present  is  for  increased  pro- 
duction, and  this  demand  must  increase  with  each  suc- 
ceeding year  as  population  increases.  Yet  there  can  be 
little  hope  for  increased  production  of  farm  products  until 
the  markets  yield  a  commensurate  return  for  increased 
labor  and  investment  in  increasing  crop  yields.  The 
effect  of  'bumper  crop'  production  today  is  first  to 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  23 

decrease  prices  to  producers.  The  agencies  operating 
between  the  producers  and  consumers  absorb  so  wide 
a  margin  of  profit  as  to  make  the  natural  law  of  supply 
and  demand  inoperative.  In  the  present  season  of  large 
crops,  thousands  of  bushels  of  fruit  rotted  on  the  ground 
for  lack  of  a  market  price.  Apples  sold  for  from  15  to  30 
cents  per  bushel  within  50  miles  of  Philadelphia.  Pota- 
toes are  selling  for  20  to  30  cents  per  bushel  and  many  other 
crops  proportionately.  The  farmer  is  asking  himself 
what  encouragement  there  is  for  him  to  increase  his  crop 
yields  when  he  is  the  first  to  suffer  from  large  crops.  The 
city  consumer  must  interest  himself  in  the  profits  of  farm- 
ing as  the  only  factor  which  will  materially  increase  the 
supply  of  farm  produce." 


Municipal  Markets 

The  city  can  very  definitely  further  the  farmer's  marketing  facil- 
ities by  the  establishment  of  municipal  markets.  The  attitude  of 
producers  toward  public  markets  is  revealed  by  the  fact  that  the 
vegetable  growers  of  the  country,  in  answers  sent  in  to  the  chairman 
of  this  committee,  voted  12  to  1  in  favor  of  a  more  general  develop- 
ment of  municipal  markets.  The  objection  of  those  who  voted 
negatively  seemed  to  be  based  largely  on  the  fact  that  city  authori- 
ties would  not  co-operate  with  growers,  while  one  producer  felt  that 
the  market  was  "a  good  place  for  the  city  people  but  not  for  the 
gardener."  The  usual  difficulty  with  the  city's  policy  as  to  its 
municipal  markets  is  that  it  has  no  policy.  Municipal  markets  do 
not  develop  themselves.  The  custom  of  the  average  American  city 
to  simply  set  aside  a  plot  of  land  or  a  building  and  establish  by  decree 
an  open  or  a  closed  market  thereon  or  therein  does  not  make  markets. 
A  definite,  virile,  constructive  policy  is  essential  to  market  success. 
In  the  first  place,  the  farmers  round  about  must  be  assured  of  the 
permanency  of  a  market  policy  in  order  that  they  may  adapt  what 
produce  they  grow  to  sales  in  a  municipal  market.  Farmers  who 
grow  cereals  primarily  will  not  be  interested  in  markets,  and  farmers 
who  have  never  had  the  municipal  market  brought  before  them  as 
a  means  for  disposing  of  their  goods  at  better  prices  will  continue 
to  "  cling  to  the  easier  lack-of -thought-way  of  dumping  a  wagon- 


24  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

load  into  a  car,  taking  what's  offered,  and  going  home  and  grouch- 
ing about  it  throughout  the  winter  months."  1 

Successful  farmers'  markets  mean  that  farmers  must  change 
their  marketing  methods,  and  changing  marketing  methods  is  a 
Herculean  task  for  any  city  to  attempt.  More  than  this,  there 
must  be  adequate  publicity  in  the  city  so  that  consumers  will  be  con- 
strained to  change  their  buying  methods  and  buying  places.  The 
widespread  publicity  of  the  free  public  markets  recently  established 
in  New  York  City  is  responsible  for  the  countless  hundreds  of  con- 
sumers that  frequent  those  markets  and  for  the  fact  that  ladies 
in  automobiles  come  down  to  buy  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the 
wash-woman  of  the  slums. 

The  city's  policy,  moreover,  must  be  such  as  to  clearly  distinguish 
between  the  bona  fide  farmers  and  those  who  are  not  bona  fide 
farmers.  An  abuse  long  rampant  in  many  of  our  cities  has  been 
that  municipal  markets  are,  at  their  best,  places  for  the  congrega- 
tion of  professional  retailers  and  for  the  disposal  of  mediocre  goods 
by  wholesale  houses.  The  farmer  and  the  consumer  alike  become 
disgusted  and  neither  frequents  the  market  after  a  time.  This  is 
not  to  say  that  sections  for  professional  retailers  cannot  or  should 
not  be  set  aside.  It  is  by  way  of  saying  very  definitely,  however, 
that  these  sections  should  be  clearly  marked.  Moreover,  retail 
municipal  markets  must  be  adapted  to  population  movements  and 
must  be  moved  as  population  shifts.  Not  only  must  they  be  adapted 
to  population  movements  but  to  modern  conditions  and  usages  as 
well.  The  retail  unit  characteristic  of  the  day  of  the  telephone  and 
central  supply  station  is  the  small  store,  usually  the  chain  store, 
where  there  is  a  quick  turn-over  of  capital  and  where  delivery  charges 
are  low.  Much  has  been  said  about  the  high  cost  of  delivery.  The 
chairman  of  this  committee  recently  met  on  the  street  a  boy  with  a 
push  cart,  delivering  for  one  of  the  leading  chain  stores  of  Phila- 
delphia. The  boy,  upon  inquiry,  indicated  that  he  received  about 
$.85  or  $1. 00  a  day.  He  was  then  asked  how  many  packages  he 
delivered.  He  responded  that  he  had  delivered  within  the  last 
three  hours  ninety-eight  packages.  This  was  on  an  average  of  less 
than  one-half  cent  per  package. 

Through  push  cart  and  motor  deliveries,  through  shipments  by 
co-operative  deliveries,  the  municipal  market  need  not  be  under 

1  H.  B.  Fullerton,  Director  Agricultural  Development,  Long  Island  Railroad  Company,  Medford, 
Long  Island,  N.  Y. 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  25 

a  heavier  expense  than  the  well-regulated  private  store.  More- 
over, retail  markets  can  be  given  a  definite  standard  in  the  com- 
munity through  adequate  and  proper  public  inspection.  Instead 
of  being  a  place  where  weights  and  measures  are  misrepresented,  and 
where  qualities  are  subject  to  suspicion,  the  municipal  market, 
under  a  proper  market  policy,  can  be  commended  to  all  for  the 
honesty  of  its  measures,  and  for  quality  as  represented.  And  finally 
due  regard  must  be  had  to  the  buying  habits  of  city  dwellers.  Pur- 
chasers cannot  be  expected  to  go  in  one  direction  for  general  pur- 
chases and  an  opposite  direction  to  market. 

The  most  inexpensive  farmers'  market  is  the  open-air  or  curbstone 
market.  These  are  numerous  in  foreign  countries  and  in  certain 
American  cities  as  well.  Charges  range  from  twenty-five  to  fifty 
cents  per  day  for  vehicles.  There  is  special  need  for  indicating 
definitely  the  sections  of  these  markets  used  by  bona  fide  farmers 
and  by  professional  retailers  and  venders.  The  permanent  market, 
however,  must  be  ever  the  well-housed  market. 

Under  twentieth  century  conditions  the  municipal  market  is  not 
the  only  means  for  bringing  the  producer  and  the  consumer  into 
immediate  contact.  With  the  development  of  the  parcels  post  and 
cheap  express,  the  habit  of  buying  by  telephone  and  the  unwilling- 
ness of  the  housewife  to  go  to  market  with  a  basket  on  her  arm  can 
be  overcome  with  the  direct  shipments  from  farmer  to  consumer. 

Mr.  H.  B.  Fullerton,  of  this  committee,  Director  of  Agricultural 
Development  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  Company  at  Medford, 
Long  Island,  has  practically  nationalized  the  use  of  the  hamper  as  a 
means  of  direct  shipment.  Mr.  Fullerton  points  out  that: 

"The  shipments  by  hampers,  express  and  parcels  post 
can  take  care  even  of  the  big  hotels  and  restaurants,  which 
must  have  not  only  quantity  and  quality,  but  perforce 
continuity.  .  .  .  That  this  can  be  done  is  proved  by 
the  tonnage  that  is  now  being  handled.  .  .  .  That  it 
will  take  months,  and  possibly  years,  goes  without  saying, 
but  there  are  little  local  communities  on  Long  Island,  for 
example,  that  could  supply  hotels  with  regular  guaran- 
teed requisites,  in  the  line  of  rhubarb,  asparagus,  peas, 
beans,  melons,  berries,  cabbage,  potatoes,  cauliflower, 
apples,  eggs  and  butter.  I  know  of  a  number,  where  the 
varieties  of  productions  are  great  enough  to  include,  not 


26  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

only  all  of  the  above  named,  as  well  as  the  smaller  varie- 
ties, such  as  radishes,  eggplant,  etc.,  but  add  to  it  all  the 
substantiate  and  luxuries  of  the  sea,  from  flatfish,  through 
scallops,  to  oysters.  To  properly  handle  this  business 
will  necessitate  community  associations,  exemplified,  for 
instance,  by  the  granges,  who  must  have  at  least  one  regu- 
larly ordained  business-manager,  to  take  care  of  their  city 
business  and  to  see  to  the  correct  and  continuous  ship- 
ping, as  well  as  the  grading  and  packing.  Just  this  thing 
is  done  and  successfully.  It  is  simply  a  matter  of  sub- 
stituting an  extremely  satisfactory  method  for  a  hit-or- 
miss,  extremely  unsatisfactory  method,  crudely,  clumsily 
developed  in  the  conveyance  of  food  products  from  pro- 
ducer to  consumer.  In  the  near  future,  Long  Island  po- 
tatoes, asparagus,  oysters,  cauliflower,  apples,  can  be 
promptly  obtained  by  phone,  by  letter  or  by  personal 
solicitation  at  regularly  established  offices  or  depots  in 
our  great  cities.  Eastern  shore  sweet  potatoes,  Cape  Cod 
cranberries,  or  late  grapes  will  be  obtained  in  exactly  the 
same  way  at  a  far  lower  charge  to  the  producer  than 
under  the  present  plan." 

The  proper  development  of  the  municipal  market  and  the  ade- 
quate encouragement  of  direct  shipments  mean  perforce  that  the 
city  must  have  a  market  bureau,  virile  and  awake  to  marketing 
possibilities.  The  work  of  the  city  market  bureaus  can  be  supple- 
mented by  the  work  of  state  bureaus  and  of  the  national  bureau. 
The  distribution  problems  peculiar  to  each  city,  each  state  and  the 
nation  can  then  be  studied  by  specialists  and  a  more  efficient  and 
less  costly  system  of  distribution  can  slowly  be  worked  out  that  will 
mean  lower  costs  to  the  farmer,  the  manufacturer,  the  producer 
everywhere,  and  lower  living  costs  to  all.  Through  these  market 
bureaus  the  producer  and  the  consumer,  whether  individually  or 
through  co-operative  associations,  can  be  brought  ever  more  closely 
together.  Through  such  market  bureaus,  needless  costs  may  be 
eliminated  and  the  information  secured  essential  to  sane,  con- 
structive action  toward  lowering  living  costs. 

These  market  bureaus  can  be  of  use  in  preparing,  as  do  European 
market  bureaus,  adequate  bulletins  as  to  prices  within  the  city.  In 
Germany,  a  definite  function  of  the  market  department  of  the  larger 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  27 

cities  is  the  daily  publication  of  wholesale  and  retail  prices.  A 
number  of  the  vegetable  growers,  in  sending  in  answers  to  the  ques- 
tionnaire sent  out  by  the  chairman  of  this  committee,  made  sugges- 
tions quite  in  line  with  this  usage  abroad  by  stating  their  opinion 
that  the  only  adequate  and  reliable  means  for  keeping  all  growers 
in  touch  with  market  quotations  would  be  a  government  bureau, 
city  or  state,  whose  function  would  be  to  assemble  and  disseminate 
information  of  this  character. 

FACILITIES  FOR  WHOLESALERS  AND  JOBBERS 

But  the  great  majority  of  foodstuffs  must  be  and  are  most  econom- 
ically handled  in  carlots.  This  necessitates  the  wholesale  receiver 
and  jobber.  As  a  means  by  which  costs  to  wholesale  receivers  and 
jobbers  can  be  diminished  and  their  facilities  increased,  four  activi- 
ties are  suggested:  (1)  Adequate  steam  and  water  terminal  facili- 
ties and  trans-shipping  facilities;  (2)  terminal  wholesale  markets; 
(3)  better  price  reporting  agencies  together  with  better  equip- 
ments by  the  national  and  by  state  market  bureaus  for  dissemi- 
nating information  as  to  prices  and  crop  conditions  in  this  and 
other  countries;  (4)  cold  storage  and  carting  facilities. 

In  its  preliminary  report  to  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  Chicago, 
the  Chicago  Municipal  Markets  Commission  states : 

"  Chicago's  orderly  growth  is  retarded  by  lack  of  ade- 
quate, modern  railroad  terminals  and  connections  between 
them.  This  is  especially  so  in  relation  to  the  city's  food 
supply  and  any  permanent  relief  which  may  be  obtained 
from  the  increased  cost  of  living  will  come  only  after  the 
freight  terminals  of  the  city  have  been  reorganized.  Chi- 
cago, by  nature,  should  be  the  cheapest  and  most  access- 
ible market,  but  on  account  of  the  antiquated  and  waste- 
ful method  obtaining  at  its  railroad  terminals,  its  efficiency 
as  such  a  market  is  greatly  impaired. 

"The  cost  of  living  in  Chicago  is  in  a  very  great  degree 
dependent  on  the  cost  of  transportation  of  the  necessaries 
of  life.  Mr.  Hale  Holden,  vice-president  of  the  Chicago, 
Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad  Company,  has  stated  that 
his  road  brings  a  ton  of  coal  from  southern  Illinois,  a  dis- 
tance from  Chicago  of  400  miles,  for  $1.05,  but  that  the 
average  cost  of  delivery  in  the  business  district  of  Chicago 


28  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

by  wagon  from  team  track  to  consumer  is  over  50  cents  a 
ton,  or  about  half  of  what  the  railroad  charges  for  bringing 
the  same  ton  400  miles. 

"A  wholesale  merchant  in  Chicago  at  present  receiving 
a  shipment  of  five  carlots  of  produce  from  various  roads, 
finds  that  one  car  is  on  the  tracks  of  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western Railroad;  one  on  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St. 
Paul  tracks;  one  on  those  of  the  Wabash;  one  on  the  Illi- 
nois Central,  and  one  on  the  Chicago,  Burlington  & 
Quincy.  The  prospective  carlot  purchaser  must  be  taken 
about  to  five  separate  railroad  yards  for  the  inspection  of 
the  goods.  Likewise,  if  the  goods  thus  arriving  require 
delivery  at  the  warehouse,  team  haul  is  required  to  and 
from  the  different  railroad  yards. 

"Mr.  August  Geweke,  president  of  the  Cook  County 
Farmers'  &  Truck  Gardeners'  Association,  has  stated  that 
it  'takes  four  days  to  move  a  car  loaded  with  perishable 
goods  10  or  15  miles  into  the  Chicago  market.  The 
regular  time  is  from  four  to  six  days,  and  three  days  is 
the  quickest  we  can  get  it  in;  eleven  and  twelve  days  will 
often  happen.  Now  this  thing  is  a  great  damage  to  the 
producer.  He  will  lose  over  5  per  cent  every  day  his  prod- 
uct stands  in  the  car.  I  am  only  15  miles  from  Chicago 
and  sometimes  I  cannot  get  a  car  in  here  until  two  or  three 
weeks,  and  it  will  always  take  from  three  to  ten  days.  I 
have  known  it  taking  from  four  to  six  days  to  get  a  car  in 
here  from  three  miles  from  the  city.  This  applies  to  the 
south  and  all  over.' 

"Anything  which  will  lessen  the  cost  of  transportation 
of  food  products  must  of  necessity  lessen  the  cost  of  the 
commodities  to  the  consumer.  The  operation  of  trans- 
ferring food  products  from  one  mode  of  transportation  to 
another  is  not  only  more  or  less  expensive  in  time  and 
labor,  but  is,  as  a  rule,  detrimental  to  the  value  of  the  com- 
modity, deterioration  of  the  latter  setting  in  rapidly.  In 
the  case  of  perishable  foods  trans-shipment  should  be 
avoided,  and,  if  possible,  a  single  line  of  transportation 
should  be  used  to  convey  food  products  direct  from  shipper 
to  the  retailer  or  consumer.  However,  where  several 
methods  of  transportation  of  food  products  are  to  be  used, 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  29 

it  is  but  the  part  of  economy  to  devise  means  whereby 
the  more  economical  method  of  transportation  should  be 
preferred  over  the  more  expensive. 

"Of  the  three  methods  of  transportation,  it  is  estimated 
that  the  relative  cost  under  present  conditions  is  six-tenths 
of  a  mill  per  ton  mile  for  water,  four  mills  per  ton  mile 
for  railway  and  50  cents  per  ton  mile  for  wagon  transpor- 
tation. 

"It  is  clear  that  water  transportation  should  be  used 
wherever  possible  and  wagon  transportation  as  little  as 
possible.  Either  waterways  or  railways  should  be  used 
to  convey  the  merchandise  as  near  to  the  locality  of  the 
consumer  as  possible. 

"Delivery  of  farm  products  from  the  railroad  freight 
stations  in  Chicago  is  carried  on  by  teaming  and  in  nearly 
every  instance  requires  a  long,  tiresome  team  haul  through 
the  loop  district.  The  expense  of  such  team  haul  between 
the  terminal  and  the  store  of  the  wholesaler  or  retailer  is 
added  to  the  cost  of  the  commodity  and  its  selling  price  in- 
creased in  proportion.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  price 
of  meat  in  the  suburban  villages  about  Chicago  is  cheaper 
than  in  some  parts  of  Chicago  because  of  the  fact  that  meat 
is  put  on  cars  at  the  packing  house  and  taken  off  at  the 
suburban  station  on  a  man's  back  and  carried  into  a 
butcher  shop;  whereas,  in  Chicago  it  is  often  hauled  many 
miles  by  wagon. 

"The  relatively  small  area  in  the  city  of  Chicago  in 
which  team  hauling  of  food  products  to  and  fro  is  carried 
on  lies  between  Twelfth  Street  on  the  south,  Chicago 
Avenue  on  the  north,  and  the  river  on  the  west.  It  is 
less  than  two  miles  long  and  less  than  one  mile  wide.  It 
is  estimated  that  in  this  area  teams  now  haul  daily  150,000 
tons  of  freight. 

"The  team  traffic  of  New  York  City  is  estimated  at 
approximately  70,000  tons  per  day;  that  of  Boston,  55,000 
tons  per  day,  and  that  of  Philadelphia,  68,000  tons  per 
day.  Chicago's  daily  team  haul  of  freight  at  present  is 
greater  than  that  of  any  other  large  city. 

"The  hauling  of  food  products  to  and  fro  through  the 
city's  business  district  is  an  anachronism  and  a  disparage- 


30  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

ment  of  the  civic  spirit  and  municipal  statesmanship  of  the 
city  of  Chicago.  The  loop  district  in  the  present  era  of 
the  city's  growth  is  entirely  unsuited  to  wholesale  business, 
both  of  food  products  and  other  commodities,  and  its  ter- 
ritory has  become  altogether  too  valuable  for  such  use, 
being  more  fitted  for  retail  business."1 

Chicago  has  set  about  to  make  a  thoroughgoing  and  careful  study 
of  her  terminal  and  wholesale  facilities  from  the  point  of  view  of 
community  adequacy  and  growth,  as  witnessed  by  such  publica- 
tions as:  Report  by  J.  F.  Wallace  to  Committee  on  Railroad  Termi- 
nals of  City  Council  of  Chicago;  address  by  George  E.  Hooker 
appearing  in  "Railway  Terminal  Problem  in  Chicago";  "The 
Railroad  Terminal  Problem  of  Chicago." 

Chicago  has  frankly  stated  the  inadequacy  of  her  terminal  facili- 
ties. The  situation  in  other  cities  is  not  far  different  from  this.  The 
thorough  co-ordination  of  all  the  agencies  for  urban  distribution  by 
belt  lines  and  other  means  and  the  efficient  re-arrangement  of  inner 
and  outer  freight  stations  and  adequate  wharfage  and  dockage 
facilities  are  the  needs  of  practically  every  American  city.  Conges- 
tion in  street  traffic,  delay  en  route,  expensive  re-shipping — are  all 
incident  to  the  present-day  terminal  situation  in  American  cities, 
born,  as  it  is,  of  a  haphazard  growth  of  different  railway  and  water 
lines,  never  as  yet  correlated  by  a  thoroughgoing  community  action. 

The  re-distribution  of  terminals,  and  the  extended  use  of  freight 
distribution  by  electric  lines  will  minimize  the  social  waste  now 
characteristic  of  so  many  American  cities. 

The  prime  essential  to  adequate  facilities  for  handling,  sorting 
and  selling  food  products  in  any  city  of  any  size  is  an  adequate  ter- 
minal wholesale  market.  Hon.  Cyrus  C.  Miller,  formerly  Presi- 
dent of  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx,  and  Chairman  of  the  Mayor's 
Market  Commission  of  New  York  City,  who  has  done  more  than 
any  other  man  in  this  country  to  show  the  advantages  that  would 
accrue  here,  and  that  have  accrued  abroad,  from  the  proper  devel- 
opment of  terminal  market  facilities,  says  as  to  wholesale  terminal 
markets : 

"Wholesale  terminal  markets  should  be  built  on  the 
water-front  if  possible,  into  which  all  railroads  could  run 
their  cars  without  breaking  bulk.  Such  markets  should 

1  Preliminary  Report  to  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  Chicago  by  the  Chicago  Munici- 
pal Markets  Commission,  April  27,  1914.     Pp.  19-20. 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE          31 

have  cold  storage  rooms  into  which  the  contents  of  refrig- 
erated or  cooled  cars  could  be  transferred  without  delay. 
Broad  streets  should  be  made  so  that  trucks  would  not  be 
delayed  in  taking  away  the  goods.  Auctioneers,  licensed 
by  the  city,  should  be  given  the  right  to  sell  all  goods 
which  the  shipper  desired  sold  at  auction,  so  that  goods 
could  be  consigned  directly  to  the  market  and  sold  with- 
out intermediate  handling.  Daily  market  reports  should 
be  issued,  stating  the  kinds  and  quantity  and  prices  of 
goods  in  the  market,  so  that  the  retailer  and  the  house- 
wife could  be  informed  of  the  state  of  the  market. 

"The  wholesale  market  may  be  termed  the  primary 
market.  Various  forms  of  retailing  or  secondary  market- 
ing are  advocated,  such  as  co-operative  stores,  chain 
stores  and  the  like,  but  it  is  evident  that  many  of  the  high 
prices  now  charged  by  the  retailer  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
he  cannot  buy  his  goods  at  reasonable  prices.  He  must 
charge  high  prices  in  order  to  live.  Lack  of  wholesale 
marketing  facilities  and  lack  of  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
the  housewife  combine  to  make  high  prices  possible.  Gluts 
in  the  wholesale  markets  seldom  are  known  throughout 
the  city,  so  they  result  only  in  waste.  High  prices  in  the 
city  mean  low  prices  eventually  in  the  country.  The 
result  is  under-consumption  of  food  products  and  conse- 
quent hardship  to  the  people  in  the  cities  and  loss  to  the 
farmer  because  of  lack  of  demand  for  all  he  raises.  Even 
if  he  succeeds  in  selling  part  of  his  crop  at  good  prices,  the 
balance  left  on  his  hands  often  makes  the  whole  crop 
unprofitable.  A  steady  demand  at  even  low  prices  makes 
for  better  business  than  alternate  high  and  low  prices,  as 
it  enables  the  farmer  to  calculate  upon  a  uniform  business."1 

In  further  discussion  of  this  subject,  the  Mayor's  Market  Com- 
mission, of  which  Mr.  Miller  was  Chairman,  says  in  its  report,  pub- 
lished in  December,  1913: 

"The  idea  of  wholesale  terminal  markets  is  not  new 
outside  of  New  York;  it  is  not  new  in  New  York,  but  it 
has  yet  to  be  recognized  and  applied  here  in  a  large  way. 

1  "Municipal  Markets  in  Their  Relation  to  the  Cost  of  Living"  by  Cyrus  C.  Miller,  The  Annals 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  July,  1913.     Pp.  146-47. 


32  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD    SUPPLY 

In  Berlin  they  have  had  a  wholesale  terminal  market  for 
over  twenty  years,  the  only  fault  being  that  it  is  not  now 
large  enough  to  accommodate  the  trade  that  seeks  it; 
they  have  one  in  Munich,  in  Frankfort,  London,  and  other 
cities  abroad.  It  is  the  recognized  type  of  municipal 
market  in  the  larger  cities  of  Germany,  where  they  have 
given  the  subject  close  study.  Its  effectiveness  lies  in  the 
fact  that  such  a  market  cuts  out  unnecessary  steps — it 
does  not  introduce  radical  changes  in  business  methods, 
but  rather  gives  business  men  the  means  for  more  efficient 
service.  It  is  axiomatic  that  business  is  conservative  and 
slow  to  change  its  methods  and  habits.  We  recognize 
the  futility  of  proposing  radical  changes  theoretically 
alluring  or  untried  methods  that  will  meet  with  distrust. 

"The  lack  of  system  in  the  wholesale  marketing  here 
today  is  a  handicap  to  efficient  service  and  a  cause  of  great 
expense.  This  expense  is  of  three  kinds :  One,  the  actual 
cost  added  to  the  goods  for  the  trucking  and  rehandling 
necessary;  two,  the  loss  of  goods  deteriorated  through 
exposure  to  harmful  temperatures  after  unloading  from 
the  cars  or  through  bruising  in  being  handled  many  times; 
and,  three,  the  loss  of  goods  kept  from  market  because 
of  the  lack  of  facilities.  These  three  factors  would  be 
eliminated  in  proper  terminal  markets.  It  is  likely  also 
that  in  time  the  expense  and  loss  in  regrading  goods  would 
be  reduced  as  the  market  management  makes  known 
throughout  the  producing  sections  the  methods  of  grading 
and  marketing  most  advantageous  in  the  market.  .  .  . 

"These  wholesale  terminal  markets  should  be  what  their 
name  implies — markets  on  the  terminals  of  as  many  transit 
lines  as  possible,  so  that  they  will  be  supplied  with  a  full 
range  of  commodities.  They  should  be  union  freight  ter- 
minals with  modern  marketing  facilities.  No  one  railroad 
brings  a  great  enough  variety  of  products  to  supply  a 
market  with  all  lines.  They  should  have  sufficient  space 
for  handling  cars  from  different  lines  with  dispatch.  Re- 
frigeration should  be  provided  for  both  temporary  and 
long  storage,  and  there  should  be  refrigerated  rooms  into 
which  refrigerated  cars  could  discharge  their  contents  with- 
out change  of  temperature  and  consequent  injury  to  the 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  33 

goods.  The  handling  of  produce  should  be  by  machinery 
as  far  as  possible.  Separate  parts  of  the  markets  should  be 
devoted  to  the  sale  of  different  products,  but  the  market 
should  be  so  arranged  that  a  dealer  could  buy  his  various 
supplies  without  going  too  far.  Connected  with  each 
market  should  be  a  post  office,  bank,  telegraph  office, 
public  telephone,  restaurant,  infirmary,  and  a  comfort 
station.  Of  course,  many  details  must  be  left  for  future 
elaboration,  but  it  is  probable  that  economy  will  be  effected 
by  having  a  delivery  service  by  automobile  trucks  belong- 
ing to  the  market.  Each  market  should  also  have  a  retail 
department  and  a  canning  and  preserving  plant. 

"A  prominent  feature  of  nearly  all  foreign  municipal 
wholesale  markets  is  the  provision  for  sales  at  auction  of 
all  goods  consigned  directly  to  the  market,  conducted  by 
bonded  auctioneers  licensed  by  the  city.  Such  sales  are 
not  provided  for  in  any  of  our  public  markets  at  present 
— there  are  no  markets  to  which  shippers  can  now  con- 
sign directly;  they  must  send  goods  to  individual  dealers. 
The  auction  method  is  now  used  here  in  disposing  of  Cali- 
fornia fruits  and  some  few  other  products,  and  has  re- 
cently been  introduced  into  the  live  poultry  trade."  l 

In  order  to  fulfill  its  mission  as  a  reliable  terminal  for  produce 
sent  into  the  city,  a  requisite  essential  to  success  is  sale  at  auction 
by  bonded  city  officials,  forbidden  to  be  interested  directly  or  indi- 
rectly in  the  trade  of  market  wares  of  any  kind.  The  commission 
to  be  charged  by  these  licensed  auctioneers  must  be  definitely  fixed. 
In  Europe  the  commission  ranges  around  2  per  cent  of  the  total 
annual  auction  sales.  This  in  itself  is  a  much  lower  cost  for  selling 
than  the  private  commission  charged  in  this  country.  This  saving, 
however,  is  a  very  insignificant  part  of  the  total  savings  to  be  made 
by  adopting  the  auction  system.  Great  savings  will  be  brought 
about  through  the  elimination  of  all  commission  abuses.  Of  still 
greater  significance,  the  producer  will  be  tempted  to  ship  to  the 
city  with  such  a  department,  knowing  full  well  that  he  will  get  max- 
imum returns  for  his  goods.  The  producer  then  has  three  choices: 
Either  alone  or  in  co-operation  with  others,  he  can  rent  stands  in 
one  of  the  retail  markets;  he  can  ship  directly  to  some  wholesaler; 

1  Report  of  The  Mayor's  Market  Commission  of  New  York  City.     1913.     Pp.  23-25. 
3 


34  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

or  he  can  sell  at  this  public  auction.     The  experience  of  European 
cities  is  that  he  prefers  the  third. 

Just  such  results  from  auction  departments  in  terminal  wholesale 
markets  are  emphasized  in  a  special  consular  report  on  European 
Markets.1  Consul  John  C.  Covert  says  as  to  this  system  in  Lyons: 

"Fish  and  game  are  brought  here  for  sale  from  England, 
Germany,  the  Netherlands,  Russia  and  from  all  parts  of 
France.  If  a  grocer  or  butcher  anywhere  in  France,  in 
fact  anywhere  in  Europe  outside  of  Lyons,  has  an  over- 
stock of  any  kind  of  provisions,  he  is  always  sure  that  he 
can  get  rid  of  it  at  the  central  market  auction  in  Lyons. 
Often  a  stock  of  provisions  is  sold  here  at  private  sale  by 
correspondence  for  and  to  parties  outside  the  city." 

Consular  Assistant  Frank  Bohr  writes  as  to  results  obtained  in 
Berlin : 

"The  municipal  sales  commissioners  are  bonded  officials 
who  are  forbidden  to  be  interested,  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  the  trade  in  market  wares  of  any  kind.  They  are  re- 
sponsible to  the  market-hall  management,  and  are  allowed 
to  collect  a  certain  fixed  percentage  of  all  sales  made.  The 
primary  purpose  of  these  officers  is  to  offer  distant  dealers 
and  producers  opportunity  to  ship  in  their  wares,  and 
have  them  brought  into  the  hands  of  Berlin  dealers  and 
consumers,  through  the  agency  of  responsible  middlemen 
and  with  the  assurance  of  a  published  and  steady  price. 
A  second  or  indirect  purpose  is  that  through  their  com- 
petition with  the  private  wholesale  dealers  and  through 
the  daily  publication  of  their  report  on  the  average  whole- 
sale prices  for  all  wares  and  at  all  the  halls,  the  municipal 
sales  commissioners  exercise  a  steady  influence  upon  the 
entire  wholesale  business.  Although  it  is  estimated  that 
they  handle  only  about  one-fifth  of  the  total  wares  received 
at  the  central  market  hall,  it  is  nevertheless  conceded 
that  they  indirectly  prevent  extortion  by  the  private  whole- 
sale dealer  upon  the  producer  or  dealer  on  the  one  hand 
and  upon  the  consumer  or  retailer  on  the  other." 

1  See  Special  Consular  Reports,  Vol.  XLII. 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  35 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  auction  department  of  the 
municipal  wholesale  terminal  market  is  of  great  value  in  getting 
reliable  and  stable  sales  for  goods  sent  in  alike  from  the  neighboring 
regions  and  from  the  most  distant  countries.  To  prevent  abuse,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  enforce  strictly  the  regulation  that  all  goods 
sold  at  the  auction  department  must  come  from  without  the  city. 

A  wholesale  market  would  attract  not  only  retail  dealers,  large 
and  small,  but  also  the  larger  consumers,  such  as  hotel  and  restau- 
rant managers,  and,  more  pertinent  still,  would  make  possible  an 
increased  amount  of  co-operative  buying  through  consumers'  leagues 
and  consumers'  co-operative  associations.  This  direct  buying 
without  the  retailer  as  an  intermediary  is  definitely  furthered  by 
fixing  the  quantities  that  can  be  offered  at  wholesale  at  relatively 
small  amounts.  In  the  wholesale  market  at  Havre,  France,  mer- 
chandise may  be  offered  for  sale  in  such  small  quantities  as  6  ordi- 
nary sized  bunches  of  vegetables;  9  quarts,  or,  when  sold  by  weight, 
11  pounds,  of  fruits  and  vegetables — even  this  minimum  being 
reduced  by  half  during  April  and  May;  vegetables  which  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  sell  by  count,  such  as  cabbages,  cucumbers,  tomatoes, 
etc.,  1  dozen;  oranges  and  lemons,  1  dozen;  large  vegetables,  such 
as  cantaloupes,  melons,  etc.,  in  as  small  quantities  as  one  of  each. 
In  Lyons,  quails,  partridges,  ducks,  etc.,  are  put  up  in  bunches  of 
half  a  dozen  or  a  dozen;  eggs  in  lots  of  100;  oysters  in  boxes  of  100; 
butter  in  lots  of  50  pounds.  With  sales  in  such  small  quantities 
as  these,  the  smaller  consumers,  through  co-operation,  and  the 
larger  consumers  everywhere  can  buy  with  but  one  intermediary 
between  them  and  the  farmer,  and  that  a  public  auction  depart- 
ment that  adds  but  2  per  cent  to  the  cost  of  the  goods. 

The  leading  agency  in  this  country  for  the  reporting  of  crop 
conditions  is  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  the  most  highly  organized  crop-reporting 
department  in  the  world.  This  bureau  secures  at  least  four  classes 
of  reports  as  to  acreage,  condition  and  output  of  the  crop  in  each 
section  of  the  country:  reports  by  state  agents  and  by  special 
traveling  agents  sent  directly  to  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  and 
deposited  in  a  safe  until  the  crop-reporting  board  meets  on  a  stated 
crop-reporting  day;  reports  from  30,000  county  and  township 
correspondents  sent  to  the  Statistical  Bureau,  where  they  are 
assembled  and  averaged.  On  crop-reporting  day,  the  statistician, 
with  four  assistant  statisticians  and  agents,  receives  the  four  classes- 


36  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

of  reports,  in  a  meeting  behind  closed  doors.  From  these  four 
classes  of  reports  the  board  arrives  at  state  and  national  averages  and 
totals,  as  to  crop  conditions,  including  the  leading  facts  as  to  acreage 
and  condition  of  each  crop  in  each  and  every  locality.  At  a  stated 
hour  this  report  is  sent  world-wide  by  telegraph  and  telephone. 
As  it  is  cried  out  or  placed  on  the  blackboard  in  the  trading  pits 
of  each  of  the  primary  markets,  such  as  New  York,  Chicago  and 
New  Orleans,  it  is  instantly  transmuted  into  prices. 

This  Bureau,  however,  is  not  in  any  sense  a  price-reporting 
agency.  The  vegetable  growers,  in  sending  in  answers  to  the 
chairman  of  this  committee,  made  many  suggestions  as  to  means 
for  keeping  in  touch  with  market  quotations.  A  considerable 
number  referred  to  the  inaccuracy  of  quotations,  and  the  fact 
that  the  quotations  were  not  up-to-date,  and  urged  that  something 
be  done  to  keep  them  accurate  and  up-to-date.  A  suggestion  was 
made  a  number  of  times  that  producers  should  co-operate  in  large 
associations  and  each  of  these  co-operative  associations  should 
keep  a  clerk  in  the  market  cities  to  report  directly  by  telegram  or 
telephone  as  to  current  quotations.  A  number  of  others  suggested 
the  need  of  a  clearing  house  among  the  growers  themselves  for  this 
purpose.  Hon.  Cyrus  C.  Miller  of  this  committee  states  the  need, 
and  type  of  machinery  needed,  for  a  national  market  news  agency 
as  follows: 

"One  of  the  most  discouraging  features  of  market  trade 
is  the  alternation  of  gluts  and  times  of  scarcity  in  the  city 
markets.  This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  producers, 
through  lack  of  proper  information,  often  send  in  nearly 
all  their  supplies  of  some  particular  produce  at  once  and 
little  is  held  back  for  future  demands.  The  wholesaler 
also  having  little  means  of  knowledge  of  large  purchases 
by  other  wholesalers  may  find  his  supply  left  on  his  hands 
by  reason  of  an  over-stocked  market.  The  result  is  a 
deterioration  of  the  quality  of  all  the  supplies  of  that  kind 
in  the  market  and  the  refusal  of  the  consumer  to  buy. 
The  producer,  on  the  other  hand,  having  sent  his  goods  to 
market  in  good  condition  carmot  understand  why  they 
do  not  bring  a  fair  price.  The  consumer  having  no  way 
of  knowing  that  the  immediate  future  will  have  a  plentiful 
supply  of  certain  produce  in  the  markets,  at  a  low  price, 
does  not  prepare  to  buy  them  and  they  are  wasted  and 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE          37 

gone  before  he  knows  that  they  are  here.  The  result  is 
chaos  and  inefficiency  from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the 
other.  The  producer  is  discouraged  because  he  does  not 
receive  a  fair  price,  and  the  consumer  buys  a  limited 
quantity,  because  the  city  dealers  must  charge  him  a  high 
price  for  the  diminished  quantity  of  produce  they  sell. 
Distant  sources  and  diversity  of  food  supply  have  in- 
creased faster  than  the  means  of  distribution  of  such 
supplies  after  they  have  reached  the  cities.  This  has  re- 
sulted in  a  clogging  of  the  channels  and  consequent 
waste  and  increased  cost.  The  means  of  producing  foods 
have  increased  faster  than  the  demand  for  them,  and  the 
only  way  to  increase  the  demand  is  to  distribute  the  sup- 
ply equally  throughout  the  season  so  that  the  consumer 
may  know  that  he  can  get,  at  all  times,  a  good  supply 
at  a  reasonable  price.  This  will  be  better  for  the  con- 
sumer and  better  for  the  producer.  For  the  producer  to 
be  able  to  count  on  a  steady  demand  at  a  low  price  would 
put  his  business  on  a  firmer  basis  than  the  hazardous 
methods  now  in  use. 

"No  agency  would  be  so  valuable  both  to  producer  and 
consumer  as  a  reliable  organization  for  the  dissemination 
of  market  news. 

"Such  reports  would  make  impossible  the  conditions 
cited  recently  by  Dr.  Royal  Meeker,  United  States  com- 
missioner on  labor  statistics  in  speaking  on  wastage  of 
farm  produce :  '  There  is  an  almost  perfect  lack  of  co-or- 
dination in  distributing  commodities.  The  resulting  waste 
is  stupendous.  Cantaloupes  were  shipped  last  August 
into  Washington  in  such  quantities  that  commission  mer- 
chants refused  to  handle  them.  On  one  day  fifty-eight 
carloads  of  peaches  were  dumped  into  St.  Louis  which 
ordinarily  can  absorb  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  carloads  a 
day  during  the  peach  season.  One  hundred  and  sixteen 
carloads  of  apples  struck  New  York  City  one  day  last 
month.  The  market  was  so  glutted  that  apples  from 
North  Easton,  Pennsylvania,  netted  only  about  17  cents 
per  bushel.  At  the  time  the  consumer  was  paying  $1.60 
to  $2.00  per  bushel  for  bad  apples,  while  the  producer  was 
receiving  from  14  to  17  cents  per  bushel  for  good  apples.' 


38  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

"Two  main  classes  of  persons  handling  foodstuffs  are 
interested  in  current  prices — the  first  may  be  called  the 
producers,  which  includes  the  farmer,  the  market  agent, 
the  shipper  and  all  who  are  interested  in  selling  to  the 
cities;  and  the  second,  the  consumers,  which  may  include 
the  wholesalers,  the  jobber,  the  retailer  and  the  housewife 
and  all  who  are  interested  in  buying  in  the  cities. 

"It  is  necessary  for  the  producer  to  know  what  the 
prices  are  in  the  cities  and  what  the  future  supply  and 
demand  are  likely  to  be;  the  consumer  must  know  the 
probable  supply  and  the  daily  price.  Evidently  the  same 
statement  of  facts  will  be  of  interest  to  both.  Therefore 
an  organization  to  secure  and  give  general  information 
on  prices  current  must  have  facilities  for  the  collection 
and  dissemination  of  facts. 

"Within  the  city  a  properly  organized  market  depart- 
ment can  gather  data  upon  the  daily  supply  and  the  prices 
in  the  market,  but  when  information  is  desired  for  domes- 
tic buyers  and  outside  shippers  upon  the  probable  supply 
for  a  week  or  two  in  advance,  another  agency  must  come 
into  play. 

"The  work  of  the  city  department  will  be  facilitated 
greatly  by  the  adoption  of  standards  of  grades  and  pack- 
ages, so  that  the  reports  will  be  intelligible  to  everyone; 
for  it  is  plain  that  market  reports  from  Boston  or  New 
York  will  be  of  little  value  to  persons  outside  of  these 
places,  if  they  have  different  standards  of  grades  and 
packages. 

"Market  reports  for  the  producer  must  contain  not 
only  the  prices  current  in  the  cities,  but  also  the  approxi- 
mate supply  throughout  the  country  and  the  volume  and 
destination  of  its  shipment.  This  is  essential  to  enable 
the  producer  to  avoid  sending  his  goods  to  market  in  time 
of  gluts. 

"Good  market  reports  in  the  cities  will  tend  to  relieve 
gluts  by  informing  the  housewife  that  certain  goods  are 
plentiful  and  cheap  and  thus  stimulating  consumption. 

"Large  shippers  now  avoid  gluts  fairly  well  by  main- 
taining a  staff  of  correspondents  in  different  cities  who 
warn  them  by  telegraphic  news  in  time  to  divert  their 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE          39 

cars  en  route  and  to  send  them  to  cities  where  the  supply 
is  less  and  prices  better.  The  large  shippers  also  can  pro- 
tect themselves  by  using  cold  storage  but  there  is  no  help 
for  the  small  and  occasional  shipper  who  puts  his  goods 
on  the  cars  and  spends  his  time  thereafter  in  wondering 
what  they  will  bring. 

"The  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  described  on  page  35  of  this  article 
by  Professor  King,  shows  what  can  be  done  in  collecting 
and  disseminating  crop  news.  It  has  a  staff  of  corres- 
pondents practically  covering  the  entire  country.  The 
method  it  pursues  in  collecting  data  on  crops  could  be 
followed  by  any  organization  doing  the  same  work,  as  the 
necessary  facts  could  be  collected  during  the  growing 
period  of  the  crops.  Accuracy  and  not  haste  would  be 
necessary.  The  facts  of  daily  market  conditions  could 
be  collected  from  the  cities  which  are  car  lot  distributing 
points,  while  the  probable  future  supply  for  a  week  in 
advance  could  be  obtained  best  by  reports  from  shipping 
points  and  points  of  diversion. 

"Mr.  G.  Harold  Powell,  General  manager  of  the  Cali- 
fornia Fruit  Growers  Exchange,  gives  the  following 
account  of  the  methods  in  use  by  that  association : 

" '  First,  as  to  crop  reports.  We  have  about  6,500  mem- 
bers and  they  organized  into  120  associations.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  about  20  special  contract  shippers,  either 
organized  as  associations  or  individuals,  ship  through 
the  Exchange.  Our  crop  estimates  are  based  upon  the 
estimates  of  each  association  or  contract  shipper  and  its 
estimate  is  based  upon  the  report  of  the  individual  mem- 
bers of  the  association.  In  this  way  we  secure  preliminary 
estimates  of  the  season's  shipments  about  September  1st. 
We  take  another  estimate  about  November  1st  and  then 
as  the  season  progresses,  a  re-estimate  of  the  crop  each 
month.  The  estimates  of  the  Exchange  have  been  re- 
markably accurate.  In  January,  for  example,  of  the  pres- 
ent season,  we  estimated  that  the  Exchange  would  ship  a 
little  over  28,000  cars  for  the  year  ending  August  31st. 
Our  actual  shipments  for  the  year  will  not  vary  250  cars 
from  this  estimate. 


40  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

"'Regarding  marketing  conditions:  We  have  approxi- 
mately 65  agents  and  brokers  located  in  the  principal  mar- 
kets of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  We  receive  daily 
telegraph  reports  from  each  of  these  markets  regarding  the 
conditions  of  every  car  in  the  market,  the  price  at  which 
the  different  sizes  and  grades  are  sold,  and  general  market 
information.  In  addition  to  this  we  receive  from  all  of 
the  agents  a  weekly  market  letter  giving  the  general  con- 
ditions obtaining  in  each  particular  market,  and  at  the 
end  of  each  month  a  comparative  sales  report  showing 
our  sales  for  the  month,  as  compared  with  former  years. 

"'The  telegraphic  information  received  from  all  of 
these  markets  is  put  in  bulletin  form  and  sent  out  to  our 
shippers  each  day,  so  that  they  have  complete  information 
regarding  the  conditions  obtaining  in  all  of  the  markets  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada/ 

"The  success  of  this  method  of  marketing  the  produce 
of  the  members  of  the  Exchange  is  marked. 

"The  operating  cost  of  the  shipper  who  utilizes  the 
facilities  furnished  by  the  Exchange,  including  the  sala- 
ries and  general  expense  of  the  70  agencies,  the  mainte- 
nance and  expense  of  the  general  office  in  Los  Angeles, 
including  the  general  manager's  and  assistant  general 
manager's  offices,  the  sales,  traffic  and  legal  departments, 
the  cost  of  the  daily  market-news  service,  which  is  the 
most  comprehensive  market-news  service  that  has  been 
developed  in  any  country,  and  all  other  operating  depart- 
ments, the  Exchange  share  of  the  expense  of  the  Citrus 
Protective  League  and  all  other  expenses  is,  approximately, 
4x/4  cents  per  packed  box.  This  selling  cost  represents 
!6/io  per  cent  on  the  gross  sales. 

"In  addition  to  the  operating  cost,  the  Exchange  has  ex- 
pended I1/ 2  cents  per  box  or  6/io  of  1  per  cent  of  the  gross 
value  of  the  fruit  for  advertising  its  leading  brands.  This 
advertising  expense  is  partly  an  operating  cost  and  partly 
an  investment  for  the  sale  of  future  crops.  This  makes 
a  total  cost  of  53/4  cents  per  box,  or  2.2  per  cent  on  the 
gross  sales. 

"While  not  a  California  Fruit  Growers  Exchange  ex- 
pense, there  should  be  added  to  the  marketing  cost  85/ioo 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE          41 

of  one  cent  per  box,  which  is  the  average  cost  which  the 
grower  paid  to  maintain  the  sub-Exchange  during  1913-14. 

"This  marketing  cost,  including  the  cost  of  advertising, 
which  has  been  made  possible  by  the  co-operative  efforts 
of  the  6,500  growers  who  conduct  their  operations  at  cost 
without  personal  profit  to  any  one,  is  the  lowest  cost  of 
marketing  an  agricultural  crop  anywhere  in  the  world. 
Illustrative  of  the  low  cost  of  the  Exchange  service  to  its 
members,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  salary  expense 
of  the  Los  Angeles  office,  including  the  general  manager 
and  assistant  general  manager,  traffic  officers,  attorney, 
cashier,  sales  agents  and  all  assistants,  including  an  aver- 
age of  50  employes,  is  A  of  1  cent  per  box.  This  un- 
paralleled low  cost  to  the  members  is,  of  course,  due  to  the 
volume  of  the  business,  together  with  careful  management. 

"It  is  quite  apparent  that  an  organization  to  give  ade- 
quate market  information  for  the  whole  United  States 
must  be  a  big  one  and  highly  organized.  It  should  have 
a  Federal  Charter. 

"When  we  see  commercial  agencies  like  Dun  and  Brad- 
street  and  co-operative  organizations  like  the  California 
Fruit  Growers  Exchange  giving  information  to  its  patrons, 
there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  a  national  market-news 
agency  should  not  succeed." 


FACILITIES  FOR  RETAILERS 

The  extension  of  direct  buying  by  retailers  and  the  securing  of 
lower  wholesale  costs  for  retailers  are  wrapped  up  with  the  whole 
question  of  food  distribution  routes  and  terminal  facilities  and  more 
particularly  with  the  need  for  a  marketing  agency  such  as  that 
already  described,  which  will  enable  the  retailer  to  locate  goods 
and  be  assured  of  their  standards  without  either  the  jobber  or  the 
wholesaler  as  an  intermediary.  No  other  factor  will  lower  the 
retailer's  costs  so  definitely  nor  facilitate  his  work  so  thoroughly 
as  will  standardization  of  packages  and  food  products  as  discussed 
above. 

At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Morris  Llewellyn  Cooke,  Director  of  the 
Department  of  Public  Works  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  the 
Wharton  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Depart- 


42  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

ment  of  Public  Works  co-operated  in  the  spring  of  1914  in  a  Retail 
Merchants'  Week.  This  plan  presents  significant  possibilities  for 
extending  the  facilities  of  retailers  and  for  lowering  their  costs. 
This  Merchants'  Week  included  special  addresses  on  different  phases 
of  transportation,  on  advertising,  credit,  selling  and  buying  prob- 
lems; and  was  participated  in  by  the  retailers  themselves.  Such 
work  carried  on  extensively  cannot  but  redound  to  the  city's  good 
through  better  buying,  better  selling,  better  food  preservation  and 
better  economies  by  retailers. 

Closely  related  to  the  facilities  for  the  retailers  must  be  the  steps 
taken  by  city  officials  to  guarantee  the  wholesomeness  of  city  foods 
and  their  freedom  from  contamination  by  disease,  whether  from 
flies,  water  or  other  source.  Health  officials,  however,  are  ever  in 
need  of  being  warned  that  protection  to  the  purity  and  wholesome- 
ness  of  food,  valuable  as  that  is,  is  to  be  attained  through  the  cheap- 
est possible,  practicable  means  of  securing  results  for  all.  Added 
costs  here  mean  added  costs  to  the  consumer. 


CONSUMER'S   INTEREST  PARAMOUNT 

The  city  that  sets  its  face  toward  securing  lower  food  costs  for 
its  citizens  will  have  to  ever  bear  in  mind  definitely  that  the  para- 
mount interest  is  the  interest  of  the  average  consumer.  These 
interests  are  to  be  safeguarded  through  permanency  in  municipal 
policy.  Thus  the  vacillating  policy  that  today  diminishes  the  sales 
in  retail  stores  and  tomorrow  leaves  those  sales  untouched  cannot 
but  be  harmful  in  its  final  results.  But  this  should  not  act  as  a 
deterrent  in  taking  any  action  whatsoever.  That  a  policy  must  be 
consistent  and  persistent  is  not  saying  that  nothing  shall  be  done. 
The  city  having  once  determined  to  develop  an  adequate  system  of 
public  markets,  for  instance,  should  not  be  deterred  from  that 
development  because  a  retailer  here  and  there  may  feel  that  these 
markets  are  encroaching  upon  his  sales.  Neither  can  a  city  be 
deterred  from  the  establishment  of  wholesale  terminal  markets  or 
the  adoption  of  the  auctioneer  system,  which  is  especially  recom- 
mended by  this  committee,  on  the  grounds  that  there  may  be  here 
and  there  a  jobber,  wholesaler  or  retailer  whose  sales  may  be  di- 
minished. The  social  attitude  toward  these  men  must  be  identical 
with  the  social  attitude  toward  those  laborers  whose  entire  work  and 
earning  possibilities  have  been  largely  taken  away  because  of  the 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  43 

introduction  of  machinery  or  new  processes  in  manufacturing. 
There  are  at  work  now  economic  forces  that  are  destined  to  lower 
distribution  costs,  increase  production  and  make  for  more  careful 
and  direct  buyiog  and  selling  by  middlemen  and  better  and  more 
judicious  buying  by  consumers.  These  tendencies  can  be  definitely 
stimulated  by  city  action  of  the  kind  herein  indicated  and  the 
farmer,  or  jobber,  or  wholesaler,  or  receiver,  who  rises  up  to  say  that 
no  advanced  movements  shall  be  made,  must  be  put  in  exactly  the 
same  category  as  the  laborer  who  demanded  that  machines  be  kept 
out  of  factories  because  they  would  throw  men  out  of  employment. 
Society  must  move  toward  greater  efficiency  and  greater  efficiency 
means  that  the  agencies  by  which  the  few  make  a  living  shall  in 
case  of  need  give  way  to  the  better  good  of  the  whole. 

In  conclusion,  the  cities  may  lower  the  food  costs  of  their  own 
citizens  and  make  the  way  for  lower  food  costs  in  other  cities  as 
well  by:  (1)  Planning  for  a  thorough  co-ordination  of  its  own  dis- 
tributing system ;  (2)  by  a  city  well  planned  for  utility,  and  (3)  by 
the  establishment  of  market  bureaus  through  which  specialized 
studies  can  be  made  of  the  city's  food  problem  and  such  steps 
taken  on  facts  well  collected  and  thoroughly  digested  as  will 
lower  food  costs  within  that  city. 

One  of  the  points  to  be  attained  in  co-ordinating  the  transpor- 
tation system  is  to  make  sure  that  there  is  a  proper  co-ordination  of 
water  and  steam  routes.  Millions  have  been  spent  on  our  water 
channels;  but  channels  do  not  mean  that  boats  are  plying  upon 
them.  Of  as  great  importance  as  the  channel  itself  are  adequate 
water  and  terminal  facilities.  As  a  rule,  in  American  cities,  ter- 
minal facilities  are  inadequate,  harbors  ineffectively  organized, 
wharves  inadequately  equipped  and  waterfront  houses,  cold  storage 
facilities  and  trans-shipping  machines  inadequate.  Co-ordination 
means,  moreover,  in  the  larger  cities,  belt  lines  through  which  water 
fronts  and  all  of  the  railroads  can  be  connected  with  the  principal  in- 
dustries and  the  retailer  can  find  it  possible  to  have  placed  within 
ready  hauling  distance  from  his  store  such  carload  lots  as  he  may 
be  able  to  order  either  singly  or  co-operatively. 

A  city  planned  for  minimum  distribution  costs  will  efficiently 
relate  main  depots  to  rail  and  water  lines;  co-ordinate  steam  and 
rail  lines  by  publicly  owned  and  controlled  water  terminal  facilities 
in  a  harbor  efficiently  organized;  and  by  a  public  belt  line  railway,  if 
needed,  to  unite  transporting,  manufacturing  and  distributing  agen- 


44  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

cies;  pay  heed  to  good  through  roads,  local  water  routes  and  to 
trolley  lines  that  local  freight  may  be  sent  direct  to  the  section  of  the 
city  where  it  is  wanted;  and  connect  the  main  centers  of  distribu- 
tion by  a  convenient  and  orderly  location  of  streets. 

Countless  are  the  questions  that  a  well-organized  market  bureau 
can  answer  and  numerous  are  the  functions  that  it  can  perform. 
The  immediate  need  of  every  city  of  the  country  at  the  present  time 
is  a  market  division  which  will  develop  sustained  market  policies 
for  the  city,  hunting  out  the  weaker  and  more  costly  places  in  the 
city's  distribution  system,  securing  efficiency  therein  and  rendering 
assistance  to  farmer,  country  buyer,  wholesale  receiver,  jobber, 
retailer  and  consumer  that  food  products  may  be  secured  at  mini- 
mum costs  with  a  maximum  amount  of  directness,  minimum  de- 
terioration and  adequate  quantities. 


APPENDIX 

VEGETABLE  PACKAGES  FOUND  ON  EASTERN 
MARKETS1 

M.  H.  SCHONOUR,  Department  of  Vegetable  Gardening,  Cornell 

University 

Numerous  and  widely  varying  styles  of  containers  are  used  on  Eastern  markets, 
for  the  different  kinds  of  vegetables.  It  would  be  best  to  discuss  these  changes 
in  full  as  to  dimensions  in  the  beginning,  to  avoid  later  repetition  when  the  vege- 
tables are  considered  separately. 

BUSHEL  HAMPER 

This  carrier  is  unquestionably  the  one  most  frequently  seen  on  most  Eastern 
markets.  It  is  used  in  connection  with  a  wide  variety  of  vegetables.  Its  capacity 
is  one  full  bushel.  The  inside  dimensions  are;  Height,  20  inches;  diameter  at  top, 
15  inches;  diameter  at  bottom,  9  inches.  It  is  usually  made  of  poplar  and  is 
strongly  built,  being  re-enforced  by  circular  hoops  and  sometimes  further  braced 
by  wires  or  diagonal  straps. 

Among  the  advantages  possessed  might  be  mentioned  the  following:  It  holds 
a  unit  measure,  it  exhibits  the  fruit  satisfactorily,  it  can  be  used  for  different 
vegetables,  it  is  durable,  it  is  firmly  established  on  the  markets.  The  greatest 
disadvantage  is  that  it  is  somewhat  hard  to  handle. 

The  following  vegetables  are  often  marketed  in  this  carrier:  Beans,  beets, 
carrots,  cucumbers,  eggplant,  lettuce,  onions,  peas,  peppers,  radishes,  spinach, 
sweet  corn,  turnips. 

1  In  the  winter  of  1913-14,  Mr.  J.  C.  Keplinger,  then  a  student  in  the  Department  of  Vegetable 
Gardening,  at  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  New  York,  undertook  as  his  undergraduate  problem  the 
preparation  of  a  list  of  the  terms  and  abbreviations  appearing  in  market  quotations  and  to  learn,  as 
far  as  possible,  their  meaning.  His  work  made  evident  the  deplorable  state  of  affairs  existing  with 
reference  to  both  containers  and  terminology,  and,  in  addition,  it  made  clear  the  difficulties  of  learn- 
ing the  ezact  facts  involved.  It  was  found  that  the  questions  could  not  be  worked  out  satisfactorily 
by  correspondence  alone,  but  that  visits  to  growers  and  to  markets  would  be  necessary.  Mr.  M.  H. 
Schonour  became  interested  in  the  subject  and  undertook  with  the  assistance  of  the  National  Muni- 
cipal League,  to  carry  the  work  further  after  Mr.  Keplinger's  graduation.  He  spent  some  time  in 
the  gathering  of  material  on  the  markets  of  southeastern  Pennsylvania  and  of  New  York.  Hia 
findings  are  submitted  herewith.  It  is  believed  that  his  report  includes  practically  all  of  the  pack- 
ages that  are  in  use  on  these  markets  at  this  season  of  his  work,  August  and  September.  However, 
this  is  the  season  when  southern  shipments  are  at  their  lowest  ebb.  Further,  a  similar  investigation 
of  other  markets  would  greatly  increase  the  number  of  different  packages  treated.  To  make  the 
study  thorough  and  complete  would  require  at  least  the  full  time  of  one  man  for  two  seasons  with 
the  assistance  of  others  during  part  of  the  time.  This  information  gathered  from  the  sources  men- 
tioned and  elaborated  in  consultation  with  all  the  parties  interested  is  indispensable  as  a  foundation 
for  the  solution  of  the  standardization  problem. 


46  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

FRACTIONAL  BUSHEL  BASKETS 

The  type  most  frequently  met  with  in  this  group  is  the  so-called  five-eighth 
bushel  basket.  It  is  the  most  popular  carrier  found  on  the  Philadelphia  market. 
As  its  name  indicates,  it  hold  20  quarts.  It  is  built  of  the  same  material  and  after 
the  same  fashion  as  the  bushel  hamper.  It  is  also  used  for  practically  the  same 
vegetables. 

Baskets  of  this  same  general  type  are  used  down  to  as  low  a  content  as  2 
quarts.  These  smaller  baskets  are  used  chiefly  in  connection  with  very  early  and 
fancy  tomatoes.  They  are  also  more  frequently  met  with  in  retail  markets. 

BARREL 

The  barrel  finds  its  greatest  use  in  the  marketing  of  the  larger-sized  vegetables. 
Cabbage,  squash,  etc.,  are  commonly  marketed  in  the  barrel.  But  at  the  height 
of  the  market  when  prices  are  low  smaller  vegetables  also  appear  in  barrels. 
Radishes  are  then  seen  in  this  kind  of  container.  Among  the  list  of  vegetables 
packed  in  barrels  might  be  mentioned  the  following:  Beans,  beets,  carrots, 
cauliflower,  corn,  cucumbers,  lettuce,  onions,  peas,  spinach,  turnips,  squash, 
potatoes,  sweet  potatoes. 

A  legal  barrel  must  represent  a  quantity  of  7,056  cubic  inches  or  be  of  the 
following  dimensions;  Head  diameter,  17£  inches;  length  of  stave,  28£  inches; 
bilge,  not  less  than  64  inches  outside;  distance  between  the  heads,  not  less  than 
26  inches.  A  variation  of  one  and  one  half  per  cent  (1£)  above  or  below  will  be 
allowed,  but  the  variation  shall  not  be  uniformly  below  in  a  test  of  twelve  bar- 
rels taken  at  random. 

When  fractional  size  barrels  are  used  such  as  "  £  or  f  barrels,"  the  size  shall  be 
plainly  marked. 

BUSHEL  BOX 

There  are  several  types  of  bushel  boxes.  These  vary  slightly  both  as  to  actual 
measurements  as  well  as  to  method  of  construction.  The  difference  in  measure- 
ments is  due  to  different  manufacturers  adopting  a  certain  size  in  an  effort  to 
build  up  a  trade  standard.  However  the  content  must  fall  within  the  legal 
requirement. 

The  variation  in  method  of  construction  is  due  to  variation  in  the  size  of  the 
vegetable  to  be  carried.  This  variation  is  found  chiefly  in  the  spacing  of  the  slats. 

The  legal  content  of  a  bushel  is  2150.4  cubic  inches,  but  a  variation  of  57.4 
cubic  inches  above,  38.7  (1|  per  cent)  cubic  inches  below  is  permissible,  provid- 
ing the  variation  shall  not  be  uniformly  below  in  a  test  of  twelve  containers 
taken  at  random. 

BERRY  CRATE 

The  standard  32-quart  berry  crate  is  used  in  connection  with  quite  a  few  vege- 
tables. It  is  in  no  sense  a  standard  container  for  any  single  vegetable  but  is  used 
as  a  makeshift  for  several  important  vegetables  such  as  carrots,  tomatoes,  etc. 
The  appearance  of  this  crate  is  probably  familiar  to  every  one  as  it  is  almost  an 
exclusive  carrier  for  all  of  the  smaller  fruits.  The  dimensions  are  20  inches  by  13 
inches  by  11 5.  Other  sizes  are  found  but  the  above  is  about  as  common  as  any 


APPENDIX  47 

BEANS 

Beans  are  most  commonly  seen  in  the  bushel  hamper.  This  is  the  common 
carrier  regardless  of  whether  the  beans  are  home-grown  or  shipped  in  from  some 
Southern  or  Western  locality. 

Upon  the  Philadelphia  market  the  five-eighths  bushel  basket  preponderates 
the  use  of  the  bushel  hamper.  This  is  the  only  exception  on  most  of  the  Eastern 
wholesale  markets. 

Barrels  are  occasionally  used.  The  one-half  barrel  type  is  met  with  oftener 
than  the  full  barrel. 

Beans  are  sometimes  sold  in  a  bushel  box.  The  dimensions  of  one  of  these 
boxes  which  was  seen  most  frequently  was  20  inches  long,  12  inches  broad  and 
9  inches  high.  The  beans  it  contained  were  grown  in  New  York  state. 

Early  and  fancy  beans  usually  appear  in  a  one-third  bushel  box.  The  dimen- 
sions are  21  £  inches  long,  8  inches  wide  and  5  inches  high.  The  capacity  is  .39 
bushels.  Beans  packed  in  this  container  are  usually  Southern  grown. 

Beans  are  occasionally  sold  by  weight.  They  are  packed  in  strong  burlap  bags 
with  the  weight  plainly  marked  on  the  outside.  This  weight  is  usually  100  pounds. 
It  is  only  rarely  that  string  beans  are  marketed  in  this  fashion.  Lima  and  wax 
beans,  however,  are  frequently  thus  sold. 

Lima  beans  are  commonly  and  almost  exclusively  sold  by  the  gallon  and  its 
smaller  divisions.  They  are  measured  out  of  barrels,  crates,  bags  or  any  conven- 
ient carrier. 

Hamper  baskets  of  28-quart  and  Ij-bushel  capacity  are  sometimes  used.  The 
28-quart  basket  has  a  depth  of  18  inches  and  a  diameter  on  top  of  15  inches  and 
a  diameter  on  bottom  of  8  inches.  The  Ij-bushel  basket  has  a  depth  of  19| 
inches  and  a  diameter  on  top  of  17  inches  and  a  diameter  on  bottom  of  11  inches. 

The  32-quart  berry  crate  is  sometimes  seen  on  the  New  York  City  market. 

BEETS 

When  sold  by  the  bunch  (which  is  the  common  practice),  beets  are  usually 
handled  in  the  most  convenient  empty  package.  In  this  connection  the  bushel 
hamper,  fractional  bushel  baskets,  stave  baskets  and  baskets  of  greater  than  a 
bushel  capacity  are  all  used  more  or  less  frequently.  The  dimensions  of  the  bushel 
hamper  and  the  five-eighth-bushel  basket  are  described  in  the  introduction,  and 
the  28  and  48  baskets  are  detailed  hi  connection  with  the  discussion  of  beans. 
The  one-half-bushel  stave  basket  is  7|  inches  deep  and  has  a  diameter  of  14  inches. 

The  standard  barrel  and  its  fractions  are  frequently  used  for  marketing  beets. 
When  carried  in  barrels  the  beets  are  usually  sold  by  weight. 

The  standard  32-quart  crate  is  occasionally  used  for  carrying  beets. 

BRUSSELS  SPROUTS 

Brussels  sprouts  are  handled  almost  entirely  by  the  barrel.  Smaller  lots  are 
sold  by  the  quart. 

Bushel  hampers  and  fractional  bushel  baskets,  especially  those  of  the  stave 
type,  are  used  occasionally. 


48  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

CABBAGE 

Crates  of  varying  sizes  are  quite  commonly  used  for  cabbage.  A  crate  with 
the  following  dimensions  is  seen  quite  frequently :  36  inches  long,  18  inches  broad 
and  12  inches  high.  Its  capacity  varies  with  the  size  of  the  heads.  The  so-called 
pony  crate  is  32  inches  by  llf  inches  by  llf  inches,  and  holds  55  pounds.  Among 
the  larger  crates,  the  one  with  the  following  dimensions  is  the  most  common: 
34  inches  by  17  inches  by  17  inches.  It  holds  about  145  pounds.  An  exception- 
ally large  crate  is  sometimes  used  on  the  New  York  market.  Its  dimensions 
are  44  inches  by  28  inches  by  25  inches.  This  crate  is  very  strongly  built  and 
is  re-enforced  by  wires.  It  is  a  very  difficult  crate  to  handle. 

The  barrel,  in  spite  of  all  its  disadvantages,  is  probably  used  more  frequently 
than  any  other  container  for  the  marketing  of  cabbage.  The  regular  size  barrel, 
as  well  as  the  smaller  barrels,  is  used. 

The  bushel  hamper  is  often  used  for  marketing  cabbage.  Several  large  New 
Jersey  growers  prefer  it  to  all  other  containers.  Stave  baskets  and  fractional 
bushel  baskets  are  used  more  or  less  commonly,  especially  with  the  early  crop. 


CANTALOUPES 

The  crate  is  used  almost  exclusively  for  melons.  The  standard  size  is  22J 
inches  by  12  inches  by  12  inches.  The  number  of  melons  varies  greatly,  being 
governed  by  then*  size.  About  45  is  good  average  content.  A  crate  24  inches  by 
12  inches  by  12  inches  is  also  frequently  seen.  Both  of  these  crates  have  twelve 
slats,  two  and  one-half  inches  wide  and  three-eighths  of  an  inch  thick. 

The  so-called  pony  crate  is  22 £  inches  by  11  inches  by  11  inches.  When  a  cer- 
tain number  of  melons  is  contained  in  this  crate  it  is  considered  as  a  standard 
crate.  This  number  on  the  New  York  market  is  56  melons. 

Numerous  small-sized  crates  or  flats  are  seen  on  the  markets.  The  dimensions 
of  these  vary.  A  crate  holding  twelve  melons  wrapped  in  tissue  paper  was  20 
inches  by  13  inches  by  4|  niches.  A  crate  holding  twelve  melons  not  wrapped  was 
22^  inches  by  13 1  inches  by  4£  inches.  A  crate  holding  fifteen  melons  not  wrapped 
was  22  inches  by  12  inches  by  4  inches.  From  this  one  can  judge  the  wide  varia- 
tion in  the  size  of  crates  as  well  as  in  the  number  content.  All  of  these  above- 
mentioned  crates  contained  melons  grown  in  Colorado  and  California. 

Eastern  melons  are  also  packed  in  this  style  of  crate  but  not  exclusively  so. 
Hampers  and  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  used  as  well  as  barrels  in  some  in- 
stances. 

Bushel  boxes,  22  inches  and  18  inches  by  11  inches  by  11  inches,  are  used 
occasionally  for  local  home-grown  melons. 

The  climax  basket  is  growing  in  favor  as  a  carrier  for  early  and  fancy  home- 
grown melons.  It  is  a  chip  basket  with  a  handle  and  holds  one-third  of  a  bushel. 
The  top  is  18 5  inches  by  7^  inches  to  8^  inches,  the  bottom  is  16£  inches  by  6 
inches  and  the  depth  is  6|  inches.  A  top  usually  comes  with  it. 

The  barrel  is  used  considerably  on  the  New  York  market  for  the  local  and  New 
Jersey  grown  melons. 


APPENDIX  49 

CARROTS 

Carrots,  along  with  the  other  bunch  vegetables,  possess  certain  marketing 
features  that  distinguish  them  from  other  vegetables.  They  are  usually  sold  by 
bunches,  but  they  may  also  be  sold  by  weight.  The  fact  that  they  are  thus  sold 
explains  the  fact  that  they  are  handled  in  almost  any  kind  of  package  the  seller 
has  convenient.  In  frequent  cases  they  are  kept  in  a  loose  pile  and  counted  out 
in  the  nearest  empty  package. 

The  barrel  is  used  probably  more  than  any  other  container.  Fractional  size 
barrels  are  even  more  common  than  the  standard  barrel. 

Bushel  hampers  and  baskets  of  smaller  capacity  are  frequently  seen  containing 
carrots. 

Carrots  are  sometimes  sold  in  sacks.  The  capacity  is  expressed  in  either  weight 
or  by  so  many  dozen  bunches. 

Various  sizes  of  crates  are  occasionally  used  in  connection  with  the  marketing 
of  carrots.  A  large  crate  with  the  dimensions  of  34  inches  by  17  inches  by  17 
inches  is  about  the  commonest.  It  contains  about  4£  bushels  or  225  pounds  of 
carrots.  The  standard  32-quart  berry  crate  is  seen  fairly  frequently. 

CAULIFLOWER 

Cauliflower  is  most  frequently  marketed  in  crates.  One  of  the  most  popular 
sizes  is  36  niches  by  18  inches  by  12  inches.  It  is  built  with  two  panel  ends  and 
one  center  frame  18  inches  by  12  niches,  and  10  slats  36  inches  by  4|  inches. 
Three  of  these  slats  are  on  the  broad  sides  and  two  on  the  narrow  sides.  The 
amount  contained  varies  with  the  size  of  the  heads. 

Cauliflower  crates  holding  one  dozen  heads  vary  in  dimensions.  The  most 
typical  one  measured  20  inches  by  16|  niches  by  8£  inches.  Other  sizes  seen 
were:  20  inches  by  18?  inches  by  8  inches  and  20  inches  by  17  inches  by  8  inches. 

A  crate  of  truncated  pyramid  shape  is  rather  common  on  the  New  York  mar- 
ket. It  is  24  inches  long  and  8  inches  high.  It  is  18  inches  across  at  the  top  and 
13  inches  across  at  the  bottom.  Its  capacity  is  determined  by  the  size  of  the  heads. 
This  crate  is  popular  among  Long  Island  growers  of  fancy  cauliflower. 

The  barrel  is  very  frequently  used  for  cauliflower  among  all  Eastern  growers. 
The  bulk  of  the  late  crop  is  so  marketed. 

Bushel  hampers  and  baskets  of  capacities  down  to  20  quarts  are  often  used  to 
market  cauliflower.  Stave  baskets  of  a  bushel  and  a  half  bushel  capacity  are 
popular  on  smaller  city  markets. 

CELERY 

Celery  is  most  frequently  marketed  in  crates.  These  crates  are  of  all  kinds  of 
sizes  depending  upon  the  number  of  bunches  as  well  as  the  ideas  of  the  grower 
of  the  vegetable  and  the  manufacturer  of  the  package.  Packages  shipped  from 
the  South  Lima,  N.  Y.,  district  were  all  more  or  less  similar.  A  crate  24  inches  by 
22  inches  by  20  inches  was  seen  probably  oftener  than  any  other.  Square  crates 
were  also  common,  especially  for  the  celery  shipped  from  California.  The  size 
of  these  square  crates  was  anywhere  from  20  to  24  inches  in  each  dimension. 
4 


50  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

The  number  of  dozen  bunches  contained  in  a  crate  varies  considerably,  with  some 
as  many  as  fifteen  dozen  bunches,  but  about  seven  and  one  half  dozen  bunches, 
is  a  good  average. 

The  stave  bushel  and  one-half  bushel  baskets  are  used  occasionally.  These 
baskets,  however,  are  not  very  popular  because  celery  cannot  be  shipped  in  these 
for  any  considerable  distance.  They  are  used  exclusively  by  growers  who  are 
within  hauling  distance  of  the  market. 

The  dimensions  of  two  flat  crates  which  are  shipped  from  California  and  which 
appear  quite  frequently  on  the  Eastern  markets  are:  24  inches  by  11^  inches  by 
11£  inches,  and  17?  inches  by  16  inches  by  5  inches. 

CORN 

Corn  is  almost  always  sold  by  the  ear  and  the  price  therefore  is  regulated  by 
the  content  of  the  package  used. 

Heavy  burlap  sacks  are  very  frequently  used  for  corn.  The  content  is  almost 
invariably  100  ears. 

The  bushel  hamper  and  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  convenient  and  much 
used. 

Crates  of  varying  sizes  are  used.  One  of  the  commonest  is  24  inches  by  12 
inches  by  12  inches.  Some  other  crates  used  for  corn  are:  32  inches  by  12 
inches  by  12  inches;  34  inches  by  17  inches  by  17  inches;  22  inches  by  14  inches 
by  12  inches. 

Bushel  boxes  are  seen  more  or  less  frequently,  especially  upon  the  smaller  city 
markets.  The  dimensions  of  some  were:  19|  inches  by  lOf  inches  by  10  inches; 
18  inches  by  12  inches  by  10?  inches.  These  boxes  were  generally  built  with 
slats  on  all  sides.  Solid  wood  bushel  boxes  were  used  occasionally. 

CUCUMBERS 

The  bushel  hamper  is  a  very  common  receptacle  for  marketing  cucumbers. 
Fractional  bushel  baskets  are  also  quite  common.  A  considerable  portion  of 
the  cucumbers  from  the  Delaware,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  Ashtabula,  and  Mari- 
etta districts  is  marketed  in  this  style  of  container.  That  is  true  for  Eastern  as 
well  as  Middle  State  markets.  Several  hampers  of  greater  than  a  bushel  capacity 
are  occasionally  met  with,  especially  among  Southern  shipments.  A  so-called 
long  hamper  is  used  by  Florida  growers.  It  is  22  inches  by  14  inches  by  11 J 
inches  and  holds  50  pounds.  Another  size  is  39  inches  by  16  inches  by  9  inches. 
The  last  two  figures  in  both  cases  refer  to  the  top  and  bottom  diameter  respect- 
ively. The  first  figure  is  the  height. 

Barrels  of  standard  and  smaller  sizes  are  seen  very  frequently  in  connection 
with  cucumbers. 

The  Boston  box  is  the  most  generally  used  package  for  hot-house  cucumbers. 
It  is  18  inches  long,  18  inches  wide  and  8  inches  deep.  The  ends  are  of  one  piece 
and  are  three-quarters  inches  thick.  The  sides  and  bottom  are  of  two  pieces  and 
are  one-half  inch  thick. 

Early  and  fancy  cucumbers  sometimes  appear  in  bushel  boxes.  The  dimen- 
sions of  these  boxes  vary  considerably.  Twenty  inches  by  10  inches  by  10  inches 


APPENDIX  51 

was  one  of  the  commonest  sizes.  Some  boxes  are  closed  entirely  while  others 
are  made  with  slats  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick  on  the  sides.  Fractional  bushel 
boxes  are  sometimes  used.  The  dimensions  of  the  two-third  bushel  box  are  20 
inches  by  8  inches  by  11  inches.  The  dimensions  of  the  one-third  bushel  box 
are  21  inches  by  8  inches  by  5  inches. 


EGGPLANT 

The  bushel  hamper  is  quite  generally  used  for  marketing  eggplant.  Frac- 
tional bushel  baskets,  especially  the  five-eighth  bushel  basket,  are  commonly 
seen  in  this  connection.  Baskets  of  greater  than  a  bushel  capacity  are  frequently 
used.  Of  this  type  basket,  the  H  bushel  basket  is  the  most  common.  This 
basket  is  19£  inches  deep,  with  a  top  diameter  of  17  and  a  bottom  diameter  of 
11  inches. 

Barrels  are  a  fairly  popular  style  container  for  eggplant.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  smaller  than  standard  size  barrels. 

Bushel  and  one-half  bushel  chip  baskets  are  used  to  a  small  extent.  The 
dimensions  of  the  latter  which  is  the  commoner  of  the  two  are  7J  inches  high 
and  14  inches  in  diameter. 

The  bushel  box  is  sometimes  used  for  eggplant.  The  dimensions  of  a  typical 
bo?  for  this  purpose  are  20  inches  by  lOf  inches  by  10  inches. 

Crates  are  rarely  used.  Eggplants  grown  in  Florida  were  seen  in  a  crate  22 
inches  by  14  inches  by  11J  inches. 

KALE 

Kale  is  almost  always  sold  by  the  barrel.     By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  crop 
is  handled  in  this  style  container. 
Bushel  hampers  and  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  used  more  or  less  frequently. 


KOHLRABI 

Kohlrabi  is  usually  handled  in  barrels.     The  sale  is  generally  completed  on 
basis  of  the  number  of  dozen  contained. 

Bushel  baskets  and  fractional  bushel  hampers  are  occasionally  used. 


LETTUCE. 

The  bushel  hamper  is  used  frequently  in  connection  with  lettuce.  It  is  the 
favorite  package  for  the  smaller  growers  of  lettuce  who  are  situated  within  easy 
access  of  the  city  markets.  Lettuce  of  high  grade  from  distant  points  is  rarely 
marketed  in  bushel  hampers,  though  this  package  is  much  used  for  the  ungraded 
and  low  grade  products. 

The  five-eighth-bushel  basket  is  used  generally  by  local  growers  in  the  vicinity 
of  Philadelphia. 

Lettuce  crates  are  much  seen  on  all  Eastern  markets.  The  dimensions  vary 
considerably.  A  crate  holding  two  dozen  large  heads  of  lettuce  is  usually  20 


52  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

inches  long,  16?  inches  wide  and  83  inches  deep.  If  the  heads  are  smaller  the 
depth  of  the  crate  may  be  eight  inches,  or  7  3  inches,  or  even  6  inches.  Some  other 
dimensions  of  two  dozen  crates  are:  18  inches  by  17  inches  by  1\  inches;  22  inches 
by  15  inches  by  8  inches.  The  variation  in  the  sizes  of  vegetable  crates  is  due 
primarily  to  the  variation  found  in  the  sizes  of  the  vegetables  themselves,  and 
secondarily,  to  the  varying  demand  of  sizes  among  the  growers.  The  dimensions 
of  the  three-dozen  crates  show  a  variation  similar  to  that  found  in  crates  of  two- 
dozen  capacity.  Some  common  dimensions  of  crates  holding  three  dozen  heads 
are:  20  inches  by  17  inches  by  14  inches;  22  inches  by  18  inches  by  12  inches; 
20  inches  by  18  inches  by  12  inches.  These  crates  are  used  for  fancy  grades  of 
lettuce  and  are  shipped  from  the  large  lettuce-growing  centers. 

The  Boston  box  is  found  on  nearly  all  eastern  markets.  It  is  used  almost  ex- 
clusively for  marketing  hot-house  lettuce.  It  is  18  inches  long,  18  inches  wide 
and  8  niches  deep.  The  ends  are  three-quarters  inches  thick  and  the  bottom  one- 
half  inch  thick.  The  ends  are  composed  of  one  piece,  and  the  sides,  of  two  pieces. 

The  round  stave  basket  is  occasionally  used  for  lettuce.  The  size  holding 
one-half  bushel  is  seen  most  frequently.  The  diameter  of  this  basket  is  14  inches 
and  the  depth  is  7J  inches.  The  full  bushel  basket  of  this  same  type  is  also  used. 

Hamper  baskets  of  28-  and  40-quart  capacity  are  sometimes  used  by  local 
growers.  The  28-quart  basket  has  a  depth  of  18  inches  and  the  upper  diameter 
is  15  inches  and  the  lower  diameter  is  8  inches.  The  40-quart  basket  has  a  depth 
of  19£  inches  and  the  upper  diameter  is  17  inches  and  the  lower  diameter  is  11 
inches. 

A  slant-sided  crate  appears  on  the  New  York  market.  It  is  24  inches  long 
and  eight  inches  high.  It  is  18  inches  across  at  the  top  and  13  inches  across  at 
the  bottom.  The  amount  contained  varies  with  the  size  of  the  heads.  Some 
New  York  State  and  Long  Island  growers  use  this  style  of  package. 

The  barrel  is  occasionally  used  for  lettuce.  However  is  it  used  chiefly  to  handle 
an  inferior  and  cheaper  grade  of  lettuce. 

ONIONS 

The  bushel  hamper  and  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  frequently  used  for 
marketing  onions. 

Onions  are  more  often  sold  in  bags.  A  strong,  heavy  burlap  is  most  generally 
used.  The  capacity  of  the  sacks  is  usually  100  pounds,  although  sacks  holding 
68  pounds  are  frequently  seen. 

New  Jersey  and  Long  Island  yellow  and  red  onions  are  often  marketed  in  barrels. 

Bushel  boxes  are  occasionally  used  for  onions.  The  dimensions  of  the  New 
York  City  Approved  Bushel  Container  are  19J  inches  by  10|  inches  by  10.  The 
side  slats  are  three-fourths  inches  thick  and  are  placed  three-fourths  inches  apart. 
The  small  white  onions  are  most  frequently  seen  in  this  container. 

The  Spanish  onions  usually  come  in  heavy  crates.  The  dimensions  are  38 
inches  by  11  niches  by  14|  inches.  The  crate  is  divided  into  three  compartments. 
Heavy  rope  is  wound  round  the  crate.  Southern  onions  are  shipped  in  a  crate 
with  these  dimensions:  Top,  22  inches  by  14  inches;  bottom,  22  inches  by  12  inches; 
and  the  crate  is  5  inches  deep.  A  one-half  bushel  box,  14  inches  by  5f  inches 
by  16£  inches,  is  frequently  used  for  Southern  onions. 


APPENDIX  53 

PEAS 

The  bushel  hamper  and  fractional  bushel  baskets,  as  well  as  stave  baskets 
and  hampers  with  greater  than  a  bushel  capacity,  are  very  frequently  used  for 
marketing  peas. 

The  standard  barrel  and  the  smaller-size  barrels  are  also  quite  common  on  all 
Eastern  markets. 

A  burlap  bag  made  of  strong  and  heavy  material  is  used  rather  freely  in  con- 
nection with  the  handling  of  peas.  The  capacity  of  these  sacks  is  usually  one 
hundred  pounds,  although  sacks  of  68  pound  capacity  are  not  infrequent. 

The  climax  basket,  described  in  connection  with  cantaloupes,  is  often  used 
for  handling  early  and  fancy  peas. 

The  standard  32-quart  berry  crate  is  occasionally  used  for  peas. 

PUMPKINS 

Pumpkins  are  almost  invariably  sold  by  the  barrel.  The  only  other  common 
way  of  handling  them  is  in  baskets  of  bushel  or  even  greater  capacity  in  which 
case  the  price  is  determined  by  the  number  of  pumpkins  contained. 

RADISHES 

Radishes  almost  invariably  are  bunched.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  no 
standard  package  is  used.  The  price  of  sale  is  always  governed  by  the  number 
of  bunches  and  not  by  the  capacity  of  the  container.  The  use  of  the  barrel  is  a 
usual  exception  to  that  statement.  Standard  and  fractional  barrel  sizes  are  used. 

The  bushel  hamper  and  the  various  fractional  bushel  basket  sizes  are  quite 
frequently  used. 

The  Boston  box  is  used  for  hot-house  radishes  and  early  out-door  growths 
on  some  of  the  Eastern  markets.  The  dimensions  of  this  package  are  detailed 
under  the  discussion  of  lettuce. 

The  standard  32-quart  berry  crate  is  used  occasionally.  The  price  is  generally 
governed  by  the  number  of  bunches  contained. 

RHUBARB 

The  bushel  hamper  and  the  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  common  carriers  for 
rhubarb  or  pie  plant  as  it  is  commonly  called. 

The  barrel  is  also  used  freely,  especially  when  the  rhubarb  is  bunched  which  it 
most  frequently  is. 

Bushel  boxes  are  sometimes  used.  A  box  of  one  and  one-half  bushel  capacity 
is  used  considerably  in  connection  with  the  California  crop.  Its  dimensions  are 
24  inches  by  11  £  inches  by  11£  inches  and  it  holds  about  72  pounds. 

RUTABAGAS 

The  most  generally  used  carrier  for  rutabagas  is  the  barrel.  It  is  found  on 
practically  all  of  the  Eastern  markets  for  handling  this  crop. 

Bushel  hampers  and  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  used  to  a  slight  degree. 


54  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

SPINACH 

The  bushel  hamper  and  fractional  bushel  baskets,  as  well  as  stave  baskets 
and  hampers  with  greater  than  a  bushel  capacity,  are  quite  commonly  used  for 
marketing  spinach. 

The  barrel  is  without  doubt  the  standard  package  for  spinach.  One  sees  more 
barrels  used  than  probably  all  other  style  packages  combined.  The  standard 
size,  as  well  as  the  fractional  barrel,  is  frequently  seen. 

The  standard  32-quart  berry  crate  is  occasionally  used  for  spinach. 

SQUASH 

Squash  are  most  generally  handled  in  barrels.  This  is  chiefly  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  price  is  determined  by  the  number  of  dozen.  Squash  are  almost  invaria- 
bly listed  as  so  much  per  dozen.  Another  reason  to  explain  the  popularity  of 
the  barrel  is  the  great  variation  in  size  common  among  squash. 

The  bushel  hamper  and  other  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  used  in  varying 
amounts  on  different  markets.  The  one-half-bushel  chip  basket,  described 
elsewhere,  is  quite  common  in  connection  with  the  appearance  of  the  first  home- 
grown squash. 

A  crate  34  inches  by  17  inches  by  17  inches  is  occasionally  used  for  Southern 
grown  squash. 

TOMATOES 

The  bushel  hamper  and  the  five-eighth-bushel  basket  are  very  commonly 
used  for  marketing  tomatoes.  All  of  the  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  used  at 
different  times  on  all  of  the  Eastern  markets.  The  diminutive  two-quart  basket 
is  sometimes  brought  on  the  market  with  the  earliest  of  the  home  grown  tomatoes. 

The  bushel  box,  with  side  and  end  slats,  is  frequently  used.  The  dimensions 
vary.  Twenty  inches  by  10  inches  by  10  inches  is  a  frequent  size.  Another 
common  size  is  17  inches  by  13  inches  by  11  inches. 

The  four-basket  crate  is  occasionally  seen.  It  is  21f  inches  long  and  4^  inches 
high.  The  width  of  top  is  13f  inches  and  the  width  of  bottom  is  llf.  The 
capacity  is  55  bushels.  The  six-basket  crate  is  22  inches  by  14  inches  by  11J 
inches. 

Crates  coming  from  South  Jersey  measured  17|  inches  by  11  inches  by  9  inches. 
These  crates  hold  26  quarts. 

The  standard  32-quart  berry  crate  is  used  more  or  less  on  most  city  markets. 

On  some  markets  tomatoes  are  sold,  to  a  large  extent,  by  weight. 

TURNIPS. 

Turnips  are  generally  considered  as  a  bunch  crop.  This  is  especially  true  of 
early  and  small-sized  turnips. 

The  bushel  hamper  and  the  fractional  bushel  baskets  are  very  frequently  used 
for  marketing  turnips. 

The  standard  and  smaller  sized  barrels  are  a  popular  container  for  turnips. 

Heavy  burlap  bags  of  a  hundred-pound  capacity  are  common  on  most  city 
markets  as  a  carrier  for  turnips. 

Bushel  capacity  boxes,  the  dimensions  of  which  have  been  previously  gone 
into,  are  used  with  more  or  less  frequency. 

The  standard  32-quart  berry  crate  is  occasionally  seen  used  in  connection 
with  the  marketing  of  turnips. 


APPENDIX  55 


SELECTED  SECTIONS  OF  A  PROPOSED  STATUTE  CRE- 
ATING A  DEPARTMENT  OF  MARKETS  IN  THE  CITY 
OF  NEW  YORK  AND  AUTHORIZING  THE  MAR- 
KET COMMISSIONER  TO  LICENSE   PUBLIC 
AUCTIONEERS  AND  ESTABLISH  A  PUB- 
LIC     INFORMATION     BUREAU 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  MARKETS 

SEC.  1163.  The  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  may,  in  its  discretion, 
establish  a  department  of  markets.  The  head  of  the  department  shall  be  the 
commissioner  of  markets.  He  shall  be  appointed  by  the  mayor  after  his  salary 
shall  have  been  fixed  and  money  provided  therefor  in  pursuance  of  law.  The 
commissioner  of  markets  shall  appoint  and  may  remove  such  deputies  and 
employes  as  may  be  provided  for  by  law.  .  .  . 

SEC.  1165.  From  and  after  the  appointment  of  the  commissioner  of  markets 
the  department  shall  have  control  of  all  public  markets,  market  places  and  market 
lands  of  the  city.  The  commissioner  may  grant,  transfer  or  revoke  permits  to 
sell  in  such  markets  or  upon  such  market  places  or  lands.  .  .  . 

SALES  BY  PUBLIC  AUCTIONEERS 

SEC.  1166-b.  Meat,  fish  or  vegetables  may  be  consigned  directly  to  the  market 
department  to  be  sold  by  auctioneers  licensed  by  the  market  commissioner  for 
sale  at  vendue  or  auction,  and  shall  after  receipt  be  so  sold  as  soon  as  possible, 
but  the  city  of  New  York  shall  not  be  liable  for  loss  or  injury  of  any  such  consign- 
ment or  part  thereof.  The  market  commissioner,  upon  such  terms  as  he  shall  fix, 
shall  provide  space  and  accommodation  for  the  care  of  all  such  consignments  to  a 
market,  as  defined  by  section  eleven  hundred  and  sixty-six  of  this  act,  and  book 
entries  of  the  receipt  and  sale  thereof  shall  be  made  by  the  auctioneer,  showing 
the  name  of  the  consignor,  the  name  and  address  of  each  purchaser  or  purchasers 
of  any  part  thereof,  and  the  amount  or  amounts  received  therefor.  The  auction- 
eer shall  deduct  all  proper  charges  against  such  consignment  and  his  commission, 
as  fixed  by  the  schedule  established  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  department 
of  markets,  and  he  shall  thereupon  transmit  the  balance  of  the  proceeds  of  such 
sale  or  sales  to  the  consignor;  provided  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  confer 
on  the  market  commissioner  the  right  to  fix  the  charges  or  commissions  of  any 
person,  persons,  corporation,  partnership  or  association  doing  business  at  a  private 
market. 

INSPECTION  OF  CONSIGNMENT 

SEC.  1166-c.  The  commissioner  shall,  on  the  request  of  the  consignor,  con- 
signee or  carrier  of  goods,  and  the  payment  of  the  appropriate  fees  prescribed  in 
the  rules,  order  and  direct  such  goods  to  be  examined  by  an  officer  or  employe 


56  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

of  the  department  who  shall  certify  to  the  condition  of  same  at  the  time  of  such 
inspection.  The  certificate  of  inspection  shall  be  filed  in  the  department.  The 
department  shall  issue,  on  request  and  payment  of  the  appropriate  fees  prescribed 
in  the  rules,  certified  copies  of  any  such  certificate  of  inspection. 

INFORMATION  BUREAU 

SEC.  1166-d.  The  Market  Commissioner  shall  organize  and  maintain  a  Bureau 
of  Information  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  producers  and  consumers  and  for 
general  information  as  to  the  supply  of  and  prices  for  meat,  fruit  and  vegetables 
and  such  information  tending  to  facilitate  and  cheapen  food  distribution  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  as  the  Commissioner  shall  deem  it  expedient  to  disseminate. 

LICENSING  MARKET  AUCTIONEERS 

SEC.  1166-e.  The  market  commissioner  shall  have  power  to  grant  licenses 
to  any  person  engaged  in  the  business  of  auctioneer  of  meat,  fish  or  vegetables 
at  a  market  as  defined  by  section  eleven  hundred  and  sixty-six  of  this  act,  or 
desiring  to  be  so  engaged,  on  the  payment  by  such  person  of  a  license  fee  of  one 
hundred  dollars  per  annum  and  filing  a  bond,  to  be  approved  by  the  Commis- 
sioner, with  two  good  sureties  in  the  penal  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  No 
auctioneer  licensed  under  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  be  personally  inter- 
ested, directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  sale  of  meat,  fish  or  vegetables,  except  as  auc- 
tioneer and  to  the  extent  of  his  legal  fees  and  charges  as  such. 


APPENDIX  57 


THE  CENTRALIZED  VERSUS  THE  DECENTRALIZED 

FOOD  MARKET 
HENRY  HODGES,  Harrison  Fellow,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Distribution  with  its  increasing,  and,  be  it  hoped,  partially  unnecessary  cost,, 
presents  itself  as  of  prime  importance  in  any  country  after  the  first  stages  of  inter- 
nal development  have  been  worked  out.  The  cost  of  distribution  is  no  longer  a 
theoretical  problem  only;  its  daily  results  have  awakened  all  classes.  Mr.  J.  A. 
Everitt  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  President  of  the  Farmer's  Society  of  Kansas  City, 
Kansas,  made  the  assertion  before  the  annual  meeting  of  that  body,  that  it  cost 
60  cents  to  distribute  40  cents'  worth  of  grain.  Leaving  out  of  account  the  accu- 
racy of  this  statement,  it  does  give  an  idea  of  the  seriousness,  as  well  as  the  uni- 
versal interest,  in  the  present  cost  of  distribution. 

A  mutual  understanding  of  the  limitations  of  a  "market"  is  a  prerequisite  to 
the  consideration  of  any  of  its  problems.  The  term  is  very  elastic,  one  extreme 
representing  a  small  limited  area,  while  the  other,  with  the  modern  means  of 
communication,  embraces  the  civilized  world.  The  market,  as  dealt  with  in  this 
work,  which  considers  wholesale  food  distribution,  lies  between  these  extremes. 
For  instance,  in  weighing  the  advantages  and  the  disadvantages  of  the  decen- 
tralized food  market,  Philadelphia  may  be  taken  as  a  type,  although  that  city 
itself  is  a  distributing  point  for  a  large  surrounding  country,  and  in  this  sense  is  a 
centralized  market  for  that  larger  district.  Within  the  city  itself,  the  question  as 
to  the  relative  value  of  the  centralized  and  the  decentralized  markets  for  whole- 
sale distribution  of  food  products  may  be  studied. 

Centralization,  in  connection  with  a  market,  means,  of  course,  distribution  from 
a  central  point,  while  decentralization  refers  to  distribution  from  several  scat- 
tered points,  the  relative  sizes  of  the  markets  being  immaterial  so  far  as  this  dis- 
tinction is  concerned. 

In  cities  of  smaller  population  (5,000  to  100,000)  the  food  market  is  almost 
invariably  centralized  and  rightly  so,  but  this  market  also  often  forms  the  dis- 
tributing point  for  a  radius  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles.  It  is  the  efficiency  of  this 
larger  reach  that  is  subject  to  inquiry  in  the  case  of  the  smaller  unit. 

At  first  thought  it  seems  to  the  layman,  not  especially  interested  in  the  distribu- 
ting agents,  that  the  question  of  the  centralization  or  the  decentralization  of  the 
food  markets  is  one  of  easy  and  definite  solution.  The  individual  with  more 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  subject,  the  result  of  experience  or  study,  is  more 
loath  to  arrive  at  a  general  conclusion.  There  are,  invariably,  so  many  factors 
entering  into  the  food  market  problem  that  the  fact  becomes  increasingly  evident 
that  the  several  general  observations  must  be  applied  to  the  given  locality,  and 
the  conclusion  reached  will  apply  to  that  particular  set  of  circumstances. 

Many  writers  on  transportation  problems  have  assumed  the  practicability  of 
either  the  centralized  or  the  decentralized  food  market,  as  either  assumption 
seemed  best  to  fit  the  results  in  mind.  With  some  the  growing  tendency  toward 


58  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

suburbanization  points  inevitably  to  decentralization.1  To  this  class  it  seems 
best  that  the  railroads  should  "perform  as  much  of  the  transportation  service  as 
it  can,  and  bring  the  freight  in  as  near  as  possible  to  the  point  where  the  consumer 
wants  it."2  Again,  we  are  told  that  "the  employment  of  a  series  of  local  depots 
from  which  and  to  which  freight  could  be  drawn  in  regular  freight  service  from  a 
central  clearing  yard,  appears  imperative,  as  it  affords  a  basis  for  primary  division 
and  circulation  of  inbound  consignments,  and  establishes  a  unit  area  within  which 
a  subordinate  circulation  can  eventually  be  maintained."3 

On  the  other  hand,  some  railroad  men — not  the  majority — are  firm  believers 
in  the  "economy"  of  tonnage  concentration,  the  direct  saving,  of  course,  being 
railroad  economy.  These  contend  that  savings  to  the  railroad  mean  savings  to 
the  consumer.  The  benefit  is  indirect.4 

That  there  are  corrections  to  be  made  in  the  distributive  processes  no  one  will 
deny.  For  instance,  why  do  strawberries  go  from  Selbyville,  Delaware  (the 
largest  strawberry  shipping  point  in  the  United  States),  to  Philadelphia  (104 
miles),  be  resold  and  go  back  over  the  same  track  as  far  as  Wilmington,  Delaware 
(27  miles),  to  be  hauled  to  the  storage  house  of  the  commission  man,  again  sold 
and  hauled  by  huckster's  team  fourteen  miles  to  reach  the  consumer  at  Kennett 
Square,  Pennsylvania?  Any  quality  left  in  the  berries  after  the  last  leg  of  this 
roundabout  journey  is  due  rather  to  the  providence  of  God  than  to  the  wisdom 
of  man. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  touches  all  the  points  mentioned  in  the  example 
cited  above.  The  railroad  charges  45  cents  per  hundred  pounds  for  strawberries 
from  Selbyville,  Del.,  to  Kennett  Square,  Pa.,  for  both  carload  and  less-than- 
carload  lots,  with  the  advantage  to  the  large  shipments  (12,000  Ib.  minimum)  of 
guaranteed  refrigeration.  Small  shipments,  sometimes,  by  virtue  of  their  com- 
bining for  the  same  route  to  make  up  the  minimum,  enjoy  the  same  advantage. 
All  berries  travel  by  fast  freight  in  ventilated  cars.  The  rate  from  Selbyville  to 
Philadelphia  is  the  same  as  the  Kennett  Square  rate,  viz.,  45  cents.  The  rate  from 
Philadelphia  back  to  Wilmington  is  22  f  cents.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  large  part 
of  the  berries  shipped  from  Philadelphia  to  Wilmington  go  by  express  at  a  still 
higher  rate.  The  actual  cost  to  the  huckster  for  carrying  the  berries  from  Wil- 
mington to  Kennett  Square  (14  miles)  is  approximately  45  cents  per  hundred 
pounds  gross.  Thus,  not  counting  loss  in  quality,  there  is  the  absolute  loss  to 
the  consumer  of  67 £  cents  per  hundred  pounds.  This  amount  does  not  take  into 
consideration  the  profits  added  by  the  commission  men  of  Philadelphia  and  Wil- 
mington. Kennett  Square  is  a  town  of  about  3,000  population,  34  miles  from 
Philadelphia.  It  is  capable,  with  other  towns  on  that  division,  of  using  carload 
lots  of  berries  in  the  height  of  the  season. 

Mr.  William  G.  Williams  of  Selbyville,  the  largest  berry  buyer  in  that  town  for 
the  past  twenty-five  years,  says,  that  the  present  route  of  strawberries  from  his 
town  to  Kennett  Square,  with  the  transfers  incident  to  that  trip,  subtracts  from 
25  per  cent  to  35  per  cent  from  the  value  of  the  berries.  Thus,  at  an  advanced 

1See  "Electrification  of  Railway  Terminals,"  R.  R.  Donnelley  &  Sons  Co.,  Chicago,  1908. 

2  "The  Railway  Terminal  Problem  of  Chicago,"  Chicago,  1913.     From  the  address  of  Mr.  Hale 
Holden,  p.  7. 

3  "The  Railway  Terminal  Problem  in  Chicago,"  p.  62.     From  the  address  of  Mr.  Wm.  Drum- 
mond. 

4  For    example:  "The  City  Freight  Station  and  its  Small  Shipments,"  by  C.   D.    Trueman, 
Railway  Wvrld,Feb.,  1913,  p.  109. 


APPENDIX  59 

cost,  one  obtains  an  inferior  product  after  waiting  a  longer  time  than  necessary, 
merely  to  add  complexity  to  the  system  and  employ  more  men. 

Since  the  natural  growth  of  food  distribution  has  produced  such  unnatural 
results,  it  seems  that  it  is  high  time  to  study  the  conditions  of  the  individual 
markets,  in  the  hope  of  arriving  at  a  few  rules  that  will  admit  of  general  applica- 
tion. It  would  seem  best  to  apply  these  generalizations  to  the  specific  market 
under  consideration  and  attempt  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion  for  that  market,  and 
not  assume,  that  centralization  or  decentralization  is,  of  itself,  superior  under  all 
conditions. 

THE   MEDIUM-SIZED   MARKET 

The  area  of  the  centralized  market  is,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  greater  than 
that  of  the  decentralized.  Another  axiomatic  fact  is  that  there  is  a  limit  to  expe- 
dient centralization,  even  granting  that  there  are  sufficient  virtues  in  that  plan 
to  warrant  its  adoption  in  any  case.  The  report  of  the  Mayor's  Market  Com- 
mission of  New  York  City,  which  extolled  the  efficacy  of  centralization,  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  limit  to  the  size  of  the  centralized  unit,  and, 
adapting  their  recommendations  to  this  conclusion,  advised  individual  markets 
for  each  of  the  five  boroughs.  The  contention  was  that  each  borough  formed  a 
market  in  itself.  The  Commission  realized  that  it  was  a  physical  impossibility 
to  serve  a  city  of  the  size  of  New  York  from  one  food  market. 

Mr.  A.  K.  Pond  recognized  the  same  limitation  when,  in  his  address  before  the 
commission  considering  the  railroad  terminal  problem  in  Chicago,  he  said,  "As 
Chicago  grows  from  a  city  of  two  and  one-half  millions  to  one  of  from  four  to 
seven  millions,  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  more  than  one  business  center  and 
perhaps  more  than  one  civic  center  will  be  required."1  These  recommendations 
are  all  from  authorities  upholding,  in  principle,  the  centralized  scheme  of  dis- 
tribution. 

It  has  been  suggested2  that,  contrary  to  the  general  belief,  medium-sized  central 
markets  serve  a  radius  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles.3  Wilmington,  Delaware,  a 
city  of  approximately  90,000  population,  may  be  selected  as  an  example  to  point 
out  the  extent  of  this  service.  The  layout  of  this  market  is  given  on  the  accom- 
panying map  (p.  60).  It  will  be  noted  that  among  the  surrounding  towns  which 
depend  mostly  upon  Wilmington  for  their  food  supply  are  five  of  over  1,000 
population,  three  of  the  five  having  a  population  of  over  2,000.  In  every  one 
of  these  five  cases  the  town  is  situated  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and  enjoys 
precisely  the  same  freight  rates  as  does  Wilmington,  its  supply  market,  from 
the  principal  producing  centers.  For  instance,  on  the  arbitrarily  selected  food 
commodity,  strawberries,  the  freight  rate  is  45  cents  from  its  principal  production 
center  (Selbyville,  Del.)  to  the  five  outlying  points  as  well  as  to  Wilmington. 

It  must  be  noted  that  there  is  no  charge  for  switching  cars  at  any  of  these  points. 
Another  interesting  fact  is  that  the  freight  rate  on  most  food  commodities,  as  is 

*"  The  Railway  Terminal  Problem  in  Chicago,"  p.  41.  From  the  address  of  Mr.  A.  K.  Pond 
{architect) . 

*See  page  57. 

* The  Atlanta,  Georgia,  "  industrial  district,"  we  are  informed  by  the  Freight  Traffic  Manager 
of  the  Central  Railroad  of  Georgia,  extends  for  a  distance  of  nine  miles,  this  distance  being  cared 
for  by  three  separate  and  complete  agencies. 


APPENDIX  61 

the  case  with  the  example  selected,  is  the  same  for  carload  and  less-than-carload 
shipments.  The  larger  shipments,  however,  have  the  advantage  of  guaranteed 
refrigeration.  This  advantage  is  more  than  offset  when  the  food  products  have 
to  leave  the  refrigerated  temperature  at  the  centralized  market,  and  complete 
their  travels  under  less  favorable  circumstances.  Continuous  ventilation,  under 
"Blue  Ball"  regulations,  to  the  smaller  markets  would  produce  far  superior  re- 
sults. It  is  a  fact  established  beyond  all  dispute,  that  a  continuous  temperature, 
even  if  injurious,  is  less  harmful  to  food  products  than  changes  from  ideal  tempera- 
tures to  the  less  desirable  ones.  It  is  change  that  plays  havoc  with  food  products, 
and  especially  with  fruit. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  how  are  the  food  products  conveyed  from  the 
central  market  of  the  average  size  to  the  consuming  towns?  In  the  Wilmington 
district,  which  is  a  typical  example  in  the  East  at  least,  the  answer  is  the  huckster, 
the  trolley  freight,  and  the  auto  freight  service.  In  this  case,  by  far  the  most 
important  means  is  the  huckster.  The  small  automobile  sometimes  used  for 
distribution  to  the  consumer  has  little,  if  any,  advantage  over  the  horse  and  wagon. 
The  per  ton  mile  cost  on  the  road  is  lower,  but  the  cost  per  ton  mile  stop,  which 
consumes  equal  time  in  both  cases,  is,  on  the  average,  more  expensive  for  the 
automobile. 

Some  of  the  commodities  are  hauled  by  auto  truck  or  trolley  freight  direct  from 
the  distributing  point  to  the  dependent  town.  In  this  case,  however,  there  is 
another  selling  agency  distinct  from  the  hauling  service,  and  therefore  the  coat  of 
the  haul  itself  is  so  much  loss  to  the  consumer.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  has  been 
repeatedly  demonstrated  that  the  teaming  huckster  can  undersell  the  decentral- 
ized food  markets  of  the  type  under  consideration. 

Since  the  railroad  freight  rate  on  food  products  from  the  producing  point  is  the 
same  to  the  several  consuming  points  noted  on  the  map,  it  follows  that  the  cost 
of  delivery  from  the  central  distributing  point,  in  the  case  of  Wilmington,  to  the 
secondary  markets  served  by  it,  is  just  so  much  additional  burden  to  the  consumer, 
whether  this  cost  is  represented  by  trolley  freight,  auto  freight,  huckster  or  addi- 
tional railroad  charges.1 

As  indicated  in  a  preceding  paragraph,  the  bulk  of  this  service  of  distribution, 
as  well  as  the  selling  of  the  commodity  itself  in  the  outlying  districts,  is  performed 
by  the  huckster.  For  this  selling  service  in  the  city  of  Wilmington  (90,000  popu- 

1  Freight  Rates  on  Strawberries  from  Wilmington,  Del.,  to  (Via  Pennsylvania  Railroad) 

Delaware  City,  Del 22|ff 

Newark,  Del 10f  £ 

Kennett  Square,  Pa 21  4 

Newport,  Del 9  ± 

Stanton,  Del lOjji 

Edgemoor,  Del 9  t 

New  Castle,  Del 10& 

*Elsemere,  Del   16^ 

Hollyoak,  Del 9  I 

Claymont,  Del 10|0 

tChadd's  Ford,  Pa 21  0 

Elkton,  Md 15  £ 

*Marshallton,  Del 16^ 

*  Includes  a  transfer  to  the  B.  &  O.     Better  rate  by  the  B.  &  O.  direct. 

t  Has  to  go  via  Philadelphia.     Better  by  B.  &  O. 


62  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

lation)  and  the  fifteen  mile  radius  it  serves,1  embracing  in  all  a  population  of  ap- 
proximately 105,000,  peddler's  licenses  have  been  issued  (1913-1914)  to  131  teams. 

The  authoritative  estimate  of  the  number  of  teams  doing  no  business  whatever 
within  the  city  limits  is  46.2  The  average  number  of  working  days  during  the  year 
is  about  290 — 6  days  a  week  for  38  weeks,  and  4  days  a  week  for  the  balance  of 
the  year.  The  average  day's  sale,  computed  from  a  number  of  actual  trips  under 
different  conditions,  was  $28.60.  From  these  figures  the  annual  sales  of  the  huck- 
sters covering  the  outlying  districts  amount  to  $431,288.00.  The  comparatively 
unimportant  services  of  the  automobile  and  the  trolley  freight  may  be  omitted 
from  the  report  on  this  market.  It  might  be  well  to  note,  however,  the  growing 
importance  in  this  district  of  the  trolley  freight  as  a  distributive  agency. 

The  yearly  expense  of  hauling  and  selling  for  the  46  teams  employed  in  handling 
this  half  million  dollars  worth  of  business  is,  as  nearly  as  can  be  computed,  about 
$78,779.60,  or  approximately  18  per  cent.3 

'MARKETS   DEPENDING   ON  WILMINGTON    FOR  FOOD   SUPPLY 

Market  Population       Distant               R.  R.  T.  F.  A.  S- 

Richardson's  Park,  Del 325  3                 no  yes  yes 

Newark,  Del 2,500  12                 P.  R.  R.  no  yes 

Kennett  Square,  Pa 3,200  14                 P.  R.  R.  yes  no 

Stanton,  Del 250  6                 P.  R.  R.  yes  yes 

Marshallton,  Del 200  6                no  yes  no 

Newport,  Del 500  4                 P.  R.  R.  yes  yes 

Edgemoor,  Del 200  3                P.  R.  R.  no  no 

Brookhaven,  Del 100  2                no  yes  no 

New  Castle,  Del 3,200  5                P.  R.  R.  yes  yes 

Delaware  City,  Del 1,700  14                P.  R.  R.  yes  yes 

Elsemere,  Del 250  2  /  B.  &  O.  yes  no 

\  P.  &  R. 

Hollyoak,  Del 300  5                P.  R.  R.  yes  no 

Claymont,  Del 425  8                P.  R.  R.  yes  no 

Chadd's  Ford,  Pa 300  9  f  P.  R.  R.  no  no 

\  P.  A  R. 

Elkton,  Md 1,325  15                P.  R.  R.  no  yes 

Greenville,  Del 50  3$              P.  &  R.  no  no 

Centerville,  Del 100  6                 no  no  no 

Hoekessin,  Del 200  7                 no  yes  no 

Hammerton,  Pa 50  11                 no  no  no 

Total     15,175 

R.  R.  means  "Railroad."          T.  F.  means  "Trolley  Freight."          A.  S.  means  "Auto  Service." 

»  Market  Commissioner  of  Wilmington,  Delaware. 

8  The  average  cost  of  a  huckster  wagon  and  one  horse  is  $160.00. 

Interest  on  above  investment  at  6% $         9. 60 

Shoeing,  tires  and  repairs 32 . 00 

Feed  and  stabling 168.00 

Wagon  depreciation 20 . 00 

Horse  depreciation 10.00 

Insurance 9 .00 

Wages  for  first  man  @  $2.25 652. 50 

Wages  for  second  man  @  $2.00 580.00 

Tobacco  @  40j£  per  day  (290  days) 116.00 

County  License 15. 50 


Total  for  one  team $1,712. 60 

Total  for  46  teams $78,779 . 60 

Tobacco:  All  men  are  supplied  with  tobacco  at  the  expense  of  the  teamowner.     From  daily  records 
of  this  expense  40  cents  is  a  very  fair  average. 


APPENDIX  63 

To  this  figure  there  must  necessarily  be  added  a  profit  which  can  be  neglected 
since  it  is  the  last  profit  added  and  appears  in  any  of  the  more  usual  forms  of 
distribution.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  a  large  portion  of  this  sum  of  almost 
$79,000.00,  to  which  must  be  added  the  transportation  charges  resulting  from 
the  auto-truck  and  trolley  freight  service,  could  be  saved  if  the  railroads 
were  directed  to  land  the  products  as  near  the  consumer  as  their  facilities  permit. 

Most  all  the  evils  of  concentration  that  appear  in  the  larger  centralized  markets 
are  not  present  in  the  one  under  consideration.  Moderate  congestion  occurs 
from  6.30  a.  m.  until  8  a.  m.  when  the  hucksters  are  buying  from  the  commission 
men.  The  average  number  of  one-horse  teams  counted  in  two  squares,  at  7  a.  m., 
during  the  month  of  July,  was  59.  Congestion  was  worse  than  necessary  due  to 
lack  of  order  in  the  teaming  arrangement.  The  hucksters'  teams  are  on  their 
routes  before  the  commercial  hauling  of  this  district  begins. 

This  wholesale  market  is  on  the  edge  of  the  business  district  and  could  be  moved 
with  ease  should  necessity  demand.  The  commission  houses  are  of  moderate 
size  so  far  as  volume  of  business  is  concerned,  and  business  transactions  are  re- 
ported as  generally  satisfactory.  The  market  is  not  so  large  but  that  adequate 
regulations  for  reasonable  cleanliness  can  be  enforced  without  difficulty. 

In  a  centralized  market  of  this  size  it  is  the  consumers  in  the  outlying  districts 
who  suffer  through  social  waste.  The  central  market  type  of  which  Wilmington 
is  an  example  suffers  from  few  of  the  drawbacks  attributed  to  the  larger  dis- 
tributing points. 

So  far  as  the  secondary  markets  in  this  area  are  concerned,  most  of  the  dis- 
advantages attributable  to  the  decentralized  market,  in  principle,  would  not 
apply;  especially  those  directly  affecting  the  consumers  and  the  food  products. 
The  disadvantages  to  the  railroads,  in  respect  to  increased  labor,  freight  car  and 
station  facilities,  would  be  concretely  appreciable. 

Considering  the  other  disadvantages  of  decentralization,  one  cannot  but  con- 
clude, in  the  first  place,  that,  although  cost  prices  would  tend  to  be  a  little  higher, 
due  to  the  limited  demand,  the  selling  cost  would,  on  the  other  hand,  be  mate- 
rially lessened. 

Storage  facilities,  in  consequence  of  cheaper  land  values,  lower  taxes,  etc., 
could  hardly  be  noticeably  higher  than  at  the  central  supply  point,  especially  if 
operated  in  connection  with  another  business  as  would  necessarily  be  the  case. 

Storage  on  seasonal  food  products  is  for  very  brief  periods,  generally,  and  re- 
quires refrigeration  or  cold  storage.  The  installation  of  a  unit  plant,  contrary 
to  the  general  opinion,  is  not  a  prohibitive  financial  undertaking  for  a  small  mar- 
ket.1 Although  a  system  of  brine  coils  would  be  impracticable  for  most  of  the 
decentralized  markets  under  consideration,  cold  storage  could  undoubtedly  be 
supplied  at  these  points,  and  at  a  profit,  for  rates  which  would  compare  favorably 
with  those  at  present  levied  at  the  central  market.2  The  necessity  for  cold  storage 
would  not  be  so  strongly  felt  in  the  outlying  towns. 

1  This  subject  is  considered  more  fully  on  page  108. 

2  Present  charges  for  cold  storage  at  the  Wilmington  Abattoir  and  Cold  Storage  Co.,  are: 

|  bu.  basket  for  24  hours $i 

1  bu.  basket  for  24  hours 10f^ 

1  barrel  for  24  hours 10p 

Other  rates  are  in  proportion. 


64  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  would  seem  that  in  this  particular  case  the  dependent 
markets  would  lessen  their  food  cost  by  forswearing  their  allegiance  to  the  central 
market  and  dealing  direct.  This  example  may  be  representative  of  a  type  work- 
ing under  similar  conditions,  and  still  the  results  of  its  experience  would  not  point 
out,  inevitably,  the  course  to  be  followed  by  every  other  member  of  its  group. 

THE   LARGER  MARKETS 

In  the  foregoing  discussion  of  the  medium-sized  market,  the  principal  consid- 
erations were  the  condition  of  the  food  products  and  cost  to  the  consumer.  Con- 
gestion did  not  form  a  vital  part  in  this  market.  In  the  larger  markets — above 
300,000 — congestion  becomes  one  of  the  most  serious  problems.  A  full  discussion 
of  street  and  terminal  congestion  in  its  economical  and  political  relations  to  ship- 
per, railroads,  consumer,  civic  development  and  the  numerous  other  interests  it 
affects,  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of  this  report,  but  a  brief  consideration  of 
these  relationships  is  imperative. 

It  may  be  accepted  as  universally  true  in  the  case  of  the  larger  market  that 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  its  food  supply  reaches  the  city  by  means  of  the  rail- 
roads. The  internal  distribution  may  or  may  not  be  partially  performed  by  the 
railroads.  In  the  City  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  it  was  found  that  during  the  sum- 
mer months  about  two-thirds  of  the  food  products  enter  by  the  railroads,  the 
other  third  being  brought  in  by  the  farmers'  wagons.  The  amount  brought  in 
by  the  railroads  during  the  "eight  or  nine  winter  months"  was  between  eighty 
and  ninety  per  cent.1 

The  task  which  the  railroads  are  called  upon  to  perform  becomes  surprisingly 
larger  each  year,  in  many  cases  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  increase  in  the  popu- 
lation. Between  1850  and  1897  the  potato  business  increased  331  per  cent,  the 
butter  business  323  per  cent,  while  the  fruit  business  shows  the  remarkable  growth 
during  these  47  years  of  over  2000  per  cent.2  The  increase  in  the  total  population 
of  the  country  during  the  same  period  was  270  per  cent. 

To  relieve  this  consequent  congestion  at  the  larger  markets  has  been  one  of 
the  most  trying  problems  of  the  experts  on  that  subject.  Mr.  John  F.  Wallace, 
the  expert  retained  by  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  to  solve  then*  terminal  prob- 
lems, points  out  one  of  the  causes  of  this  congestion  to  be  as  follows:  "A  great 
deal  of  the  congestion  of  the  streets  in  the  business  district  of  the  city  is  due  to 
the  handling  of  freight  which  is  foreign  to  the  city,  and  which  could  with  advan- 
tage to  the  community  be  handled  outside  of  the  business  district."  * 

Much  of  the  value  of  this  suggestion  depends  on  the  meaning  of  "foreign."  If 
"foreign"  goods  has  reference  to  goods  whose  ultimate  destination  for  consump- 
tion is  other  than  the  city  of  Chicago,  but  which  is  billed  to  Chicago  merchants, 
then  the  suggestion  would  seem  to  point  to  wholesale  warehouses  located  at  some 
point  other  than  in  the  business  district,  in  which  section  only  the  office  work 
would  be  transacted.  This  meaning  of  the  word  seems  to  suggest  an  entirely 
feasible  plan  but  exempts  the  railroads  from  any  connection  with  this  cause  of 
congestion. 

1  "Market  Report,  Newark  City  Plan  Commission,"  1912.     Supplement  No.  3,  p.  7. 

2  Fairchild,  "Rural  Wealth  and  Welfare,"  II,  New  York,  1900. 

*  Report  of  J.  F.  Wallace  to  Committee  on  Railroad  Terminals  of  City  Council  of  Chicago,  p. 
34. 


APPENDIX 


65 


If,  on  the  other  hand,  "foreign"  products  refers  to  products  really  consigned 
to  some  point  outside  of  Chicago,  but  sent  through  or  into  that  city  for  transfer, 
make-up  or  distribution  purposes,  then  the  railroads  are  partially  to  blame  at 
least  and  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  their  defense  in  this  connection. 

One  eminently  qualified  to  give  opinions  on  railroad  matters  writes:  "At  the 
largest  cities  it  is  not  the  case  that  any  congestion  in  central  terminals  results 
from  the  non-separation  of  local  from  foreign  goods  (by  'foreign'  I  suppose  you 
mean  goods  not  intended  for  that  city)  as  the  foreign  goods  are  not  likely  to  move 
into  the  city  stations,  so  that  I  believe  the  present  method  takes  care  of  the  sit- 
uation."1 

Another  opinion  upon  the  same  subject  is  exactly  contrary  in  character:  "The 
separation  can  be  made  and  is  now  made  at  many  cities,  but  this  separation  will 
not  necessarily  prevent  congestion  at  the  city  stations."*  It  was,  of  course,  not 
contended  in  the  original  suggestion,  that  the  elimination  of  one  of  the  causes 
would  eliminate  the  effect. 

The  most  recent  facts  in  the  case  of  Chicago  are  given  graphically  by  Mr.  Bion 
J.  Arnold  in  his  report  to  the  Citizens  Plan  Committee. 


MONTHLY  TOTAL  FREIGHT  CAR  MOVEMENTS 
EXCLUDING    EMPTIES 


.   CHICAGO     . 
SWITCHING  DISTRICT 

JANUARY       1312 


DISTRIBUTION    BY 
GROUPS  OF   ROADS 

IS*  SOUTH  CLEARING  GROUP 
30t  NORTH  CLEARING  GROUP 
55X  CENTRAC  CLEARING  GROUP 


LOADED  FREIGHT  CAR  MOVEMENT. 

Showing  graphically  the  proportion  of  in-bound  and  out-bound  freight, 
49%  of  which  is  interchanged  between  roads.  Note  the  fact  that,  of  the  total 
freight  interchanged,  70%  is  handled  by  direct  switching  within  the  city  limits. 


1  Source  withheld. 
'Source  withheld. 
5 


66  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  most  of  this  congestion  in  Chicago  will  be  taken  care  of 
in  the  new  "Clearing"  constructed  for  that  purpose.  An  example  of  the  results 
of  these  congestive  methods  in  Chicago  is  offered  by  Mr.  George  E.  Hooker,  Sec- 
retary of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago:  "The  freight  performances  of  the  Chicago 
railroads  are  still  more  deficient.  (Referring  to  cities  other  than  Chicago.)  Three 
full  days  are  now  required,  on  the  average,  to  get  a  freight  car  through  the  Chicago 
district,  and  a  very  large  amount  of  less-than-carload  freight  has  to  be  transferred 
from  one  line  to  another  by  being  carted  through  the  streets  downtown — a  serious 
operation  and  financial  handicap  to  commerce."  l  Suggested  methods  of  relief 
will  be  considered  later. 

A  reasonable  understanding  of  the  larger  market  requires  a  separate  considera- 
tion of  the  few  of  its  more  important  problems  among  which  are  the  outer  station, 
centralized  delivery  system,  and  several  other  features  peculiar  to  food  markets — 
as,  for  instance,  organization,  storage  and  refrigeration  facilities. 

OUTER  STATION 

Decentralization  within  the  large  cities,  so  far  as  the  railroads  are  concerned, 
is  accomplished  by  what  is  commonly  known  as  the  outer  station.  This  is  the 
method  employed  for  bringing  the  products  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  consignee. 
The  value  of  this  service  to  the  particular  consignee  depends  altogether  on  his 
distance  from  the  central  freight  station.  In  some  .instances  where  the  distance 
is  great  enough  the  outer  station  means  a  great  saving,  whether  the  quantities  of 
freight  involved  be  less-than-carload  or  carload. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  attempt  to  prove  that  the  railroads  can  haul  at  a  lower  ton 
mile  cost,  whatever  the  nature  of  the  freight,  than  can  any  other  form  of  cartage. 
An  Eastern  railroad  official  asserts  that,  "it  frequently  costs  50  cents  to  75  cents 
to  cart  a  package  or  a  small  shipment  to  or  from  the  railroad  station  in  Philadel- 
phia, while  the  revenue  received  by  the  railroad  is  25  cents  or  30  cents."  How 
much  of  this  cost  can  the  outer  station  save? 

The  question  has  been  raised  as  to  whether  or  not  the  accommodation  rendered 
by  the  outer  station  to  certain  portions  of  the  population  is  not  purchased  at  too 
great  an  expense,  the  whole  of  which  falls  ultimately  on  all  the  consumers.  Mr. 
C.  D.  Trueman,  in  a  detailed  and  interesting  article  in  the  Railway  World  presents 
some  of  the  facts  respecting  less-than-carload  quantities  in  a  city  of  about  600,000 
inhabitants.  In  this  city  there  was  one  distributing  and  collecting  station  and 
five  other  sub-stations  situated  in  as  many  different  commercial  centers,  a  condi- 
tion which  represents  a  well  decentralized  system  for  distribution.  "That 
portion  of  this  complement  of  stations  and  accompanying  tracks,  which  is  devoted 
to  less-than-carload  quantities  of  freight,  occupies  an  aggregate  of  521,000  square 
feet  of  ground,  valued  at  $513,000.00.  By  adding  to  this  the  investment  in 
structures,  etc.  .  .  .  the  total  investment  for  less-than-car-lot  purposes  is 
found  to  be,  in  round  figures,  $1,020,000.00.  This  computed  on  a  5  per  cent 
interest  basis,  against  the  tonnage  actually  loaded  thereat,  shows  that  each  ton 
of  freight  passing  through  these  stations  costs  the  railroads  in  interest  alone 
15.05  cents."2  He  concludes  that  when  necessary  items  of  taxes,  insurance, 

1  From  the  address  of  Mr.  George  E.  Hooker,  appearing  in  "Railway  Terminal  Problem  in  Chi- 
cago," pp.  82-83. 

*  "The  City  Freight  Station  and  Its  Small  Shipments,"  February  1913,  p.  107. 


APPENDIX  67 

depreciation,  and  provision  for  reasonable  business  increase  of  the  future, 
are  added  to  the  above,  the  amount  will  total  29.8  cents  per  ton. 

This  is  a  question  for  the  individual  to  answer  with  the  figures  before  him. 
Is  30  cents  per  ton  too  much  of  a  burden  on  the  whole  body  of  consumers  that 
one  part  may  be  saved  a  portion  of  its  cartage  expense  and  the  other  partially 
relieved  of  the  congestion  of  the  single  terminal  with  its  consequent  disadvan- 
tages? The  answer  will  depend,  in  the  particular  case  under  consideration, 
largely  upon  the  cartage  expense  on  the  one  side,  and  the  disadvantages  of  the 
congestion  on  the  other. 

Under  present  conditions  of  private  collection  and  delivery  it  is  possible  that 
circumstances  force  the  outer  station  on  the  railroads  in  the  case  of  small  ship- 
ments. This  opinion  is  very  plainly  expressed  in  the  statement  of  an  official  of 
one  of  our  best  regulated  systems.  "Having  established  carload  delivery  stations, 
there  is  much  room  for  argument  as  to  the  additional  cost  involved  in  handling 
less  than  carload  freight  thereat,  and  while  doubtless  the  outer-station-less-than- 
carload  freight  practice  is  inimical  to  time  in  transit  and  economical  handling, 
I  am  inclined  to  believe,  even  if  all  the  rail  carriers  consolidated,  that  other  com- 
petition, such  as  boats  and  trolley  lines,  would  force  the  continuance  of  outer 
stations. " l 

The  cost  of  handling  in  carload  quantities  is  not  so  large,  due  partly  to  the 
fact  that  platform  and  housing  facilities,  as  well  as  much  of  the  human  element, 
is  unnecessary.  In  answer  to  the  inquiry  as  to  whether  the  amount  of  such 
freight  justifies  even  the  smaller  proportional  outlay  Johnson  and  Huebner  say 
that  "not  less  than  four-fifths  of  the  freight  traffic  of  our  railroads  is  shipped  in 
bulk  in  carload  and  train  load  lots."  2  The  almost  unanimous  conclusion  on  this 
subject  is  well  expressed  in  the  following  opinion:  "In  my  judgment  there  could 
be  no  doubt  of  the  benefit  of  outer  stations  for  the  receipt  and  delivery  of  carload 
freight  on  track,  both  in  its  economical  relations  to  the  costs  of  the  shippers  and 
receivers,  and  its  avoidance  of  congestion  of  street  traffic  in  the  central  portions 
of  the  city."' 

The  chief  reason  for  the  dissenting  vote  to  the  preceding  proposition,  as  devel- 
oped in  the  hearings  before  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in  the  Five 
Per  Cent  Advance  Case,  is  that  the  method  used  at  present  in  the  case  of  large 
concerns,  of  delivering  direct  on  private  switches,  relieves  the  street  congestion 
of  the  large  cities  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  unnecessary  the  outer  station. 
The  question  of  charges  for  this  service  on  industrial  spurs  is  left  in  the  hands  of 
the  state,  as  are  all  switching  charges  when  the  service  performed  is  local  to  the 
state. 4  Some  state  commissions  have  decided  contrary  to  the  opinion  given  by 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in  the  "Industrial  Railway  Case"6  to 
the  effect  that  a  through  rate  to  destination  in  the  case  of  certain  industrial 
railroads  constituted  a  violation  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act,  in  that,  it  was 
in  the  nature  of  a  rebate.6 

1  Source  withheld. 

2  "Railroad  Traffic  and  Rates,"  I,  14. 

3  Source  withheld. 

4  See  Snyder's  "Interstate  Commerce  Act  and  Federal  Anti-Trust  Laws,"  New  York,   1906,  p.. 
171. 

"January  20,  1914.     No.  4181. 

•  See  Decisions  of  the  Public  Service  Commission  of  Penna.,  1914.     No.  193. 


68  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

PRIVATE  HAULING 

vs. 
CENTRALIZED  DELIVERY 

The  important  question  of  the  relative  value  of  hauling  from  the  freight 
station  by  private  teams,  as  compared  with  a  collection  and  delivery  service 
by  some  centralized  agency,  railroad  company  or  otherwise,  has  been  given 
attention  many  times  by  writers  well  qualified  to  give  information  on  the  subject. 
Granted  that  the  auto  truck  is  the  best  means  for  large  quantity  hauls,  and 
granted  that  the  smaller  business  often  finds  the  horse-drawn  vehicle  more 
economical,  what  are  the  disadvantages  of  this  system  as  a  whole  that  it  has 
received  such  repeated  attacks?  The  most  serious  offense  is  congestion,  resulting 
from  an  unnecessarily  large  number  of  conveyances  to  deliver  and  collect  the 
tonnage  they  take  care  of.  The  result  is  congestion  in  the  neighboring  streets, 
frequent  waiting  for  every  team  served,  and  in  many  instances  two  or  more  teams 
going  to  or  coming  from  the  same  locality  partially  loaded.  One  of  the  items 
of  efficiency  in  teaming  is  the  maximum  load;  and  this  ideal  is  unapproachable 
under  the  present  system.  The  various  individual  routes  are  continually  crossing 
each  other,  three  or  four  teams  often  performing  the  work  of  one.  The  routing 
that  would  be  possible  under  some  centralized  system  of  delivery  would  eliminate 
most  of  this  social  waste. 

What  advantage  would  the  consignee  derive  from  this  centralized  hauling 
service?  In  Baltimore,  where  the  installation  of  such  a  system  was  forced  on 
the  railroad  for  the  relief  of  congestion,  the  patrons  of  the  railroad  enjoyed  prompt 
and  regular  collection  and  delivery  without  any  of  the  annoyance  incident  to 
a  private  service.  In  this  case  the  patrons  were  unusually  fortunate  in  that 
there  was  no  extra  charge  for  the  service. 

What  advantage  does  such  a  system  offer  to  the  railroads?  Expense  would 
most  certanily  be  decreased,  and  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  patrons 
of  the  company  would,  in  time,  enjoy  a  part  of  the  savings.  The  need  for  station 
and  platform  facilities  would  be  greatly  lessened.  Storage  in  freight  stations 
would  be  eliminated.  It  has  been  estimated  that  fully  33  per  cent  of  the  freight 
housing  facilities  are  required  for  holding  shipments  until  called  for.  Many 
trucks  could  be  loaded  at  the  car  doors,  thereby  saving,  not  only  in  physical 
structures,  but  also  in  handling,  an  item  very  important  because  of  the  high  cost 
involved  as  well  as  its  depreciating  effects  on  foodstuffs,  with  which  we  are  pri- 
marily interested.  The  depreciating  effect  on  less-than-carload  freight  as  a 
result  of  the  present  method  of  handling  at  the  centralized  terminal,  and  even  at 
many  decentralized  terminals,  although  worthy  of  serious  consideration,  is  not 
so  tangible  in  its  results  as  is  the  actual  breakage  and  destruction.  It  is  given 
as  a  positive  fact  by  those  who  handle  the  figures  in  one  of  the  freight  stations  at 
Reading,  Pa.,  that  the  damage  claims  paid  at  that  terminal  amount  to  more 
than  the  wage  account. 

Another  item  of  no  mean  importance,  on  which  an  interesting  figure  is  given 
by  Mr.  C.  E.  Trueman,  is  that  of  postal  card  notification  to  the  consignee  by  the 
railroads.  This  gentleman  asserts  that  one  prominent  company  operating  in 
a  city  of  about  600,000,  spent  $4,000.00  annually  for  this  purpose.  This  item 
would  cease  to  appear  under  the  collection  and  delivery  system.  It  represents 
the  price  of  two  trucks  with  the  capacity  of  the  most  economical  unit. 


APPENDIX  69 

Another  prominent  feature  of  saving  resulting  from  the  collection  and  delivery 
service  is  brought  out  in  the  discussion  as  to  which  is  the  proper  capacity  unit 
for  general  hauling,  such  as  exists  at  the  modern  freight  station.  Majority 
opinion  among  the  automobile  truck  salesmen,  who  have  made  a  thorough  study 
of  the  question,  fixes  the  efficiency  unit  for  general  hauling  at  two  tons.  The 
mere  fact,  however,  that  there  is  a  dispute  as  to  this  solution  leads  to  further 
inquiry.  The  truth  is  that  many  large  concerns,  which  can  take  care  of  most  of 
their  hauling  with  the  two-ton  truck,  require  one  of  larger  capacity  to  take  care 
of  exceptional  cases.  They  must  either  hire  trucks  for  these  exceptional  cases 
or  buy  the  truck  that  will  take  care  of  them,  an  explanation  that  accounts  for 
most  all  cases  in  which  a  five-ton  truck  is  doing  the  work  of  one  of  half  that 
capacity.  This  waste  would  be  eliminated  in  the  centralized  service,  where  a 
majority  of  the  trucks  would  be  of  two-ton  capacity,  but  where  there  would  also 
be  such  a  variety  of  work  as  to  keep  trucks  of  larger  capacity  efficiently  employed. 

Another  very  important  element  to  be  considered  in  connection  with  a  central- 
ized collection  and  delivery  service,  is  the  location  of  the  railroad  facilities.  Since 
all  sections  of  the  city  must  be  catered  to  under  such  a  system,  it  serves  no  useful 
purpose  to  have  the  freight  yard  located  in  an  expensive  and  congested  section 
as  is  generally  the  case  under  present  circumstances.  With  the  new  delivery 
system  it  might  often  happen  that  more  space  for  handling  the  freight  could  be 
had  at  a  much  reduced  cost  and  in  a  part  of  town  more  agreeable  to  all  parties 
concerned,  without  in  any  way  impairing  the  efficiency  of  the  service. 

Four  questions  must  be  touched  on  very  briefly  before  the  centralized  cartage 
system  may  be  said  to  have  been  given  a  "fair  trial."  (1)  What  is  the  relative 
cost  to  the  consignee  of  the  two  systems?  (2)  Should  the  centralized  system, 
if  adopted,  be  optional  or  obligatory?  (3)  Should  it  be  under  railroad  or  inde- 
pendent management?  (4)  Should  the  drayage  charge  be  listed  as  a  separate 
item? 

Accurate  figures  on  the  cost  of  private  hauling  are  surprisingly  difficult  to 
obtain.  The  weight  of  the  average  package  and  other  essential  factors  differ 
greatly  with  the  various  concerns.  The  average  result  of  several  accurate  inves- 
tigations on  this  subject,  in  cities  of  from  400,000  to  600,000,  places  the  figure  at 
about  $1.35  per  ton. 

As  mentioned  before,  it  was  necessary  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  to  provide 
for  a  collection  and  delivery  service  in  Baltimore  to  relieve  the  congestion  at 
that  point.  This  system  was  in  use  for  several  years,  being  abandoned  only  about 
a  year  ago.  The  relief  to  the  railroad  was  considerable  and  satisfactory,  but  it 
was  finally  decided  that  the  relief  obtained  was  not  sufficient  to  compensate  for 
the  expense  involved,  the  railroad  not  being  allowed  to  shift  any  of  this  additional 
expense  except  by  pursuing  a  very  involved  and  unsatisfactory  course.  During 
the  year  ending  August  31,  1913,  about  72,500  tons  of  freight  were  handled 
under  this  system,  at  a  cost  to  the  Pennsylvania  Company  of  about  $88,000.00, 
or  approximately  $1.22  per  ton.  When  this  figure  of  $1.22  is  compared  with 
$1.35  of  the  present  method  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  former  figure  includes 
a  regular  business  profit  to  the  drayage  company  employed,  while  the  latter  figure 
is  supposed  to  represent  actual  net  cost. 

The  second  question  seems  easily  disposed  of.  Uniform  volume  of  freight 
would  be  one  of  the  chief  factors  making  for  a  low  cost  of  operation.  Evidently, 


70  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

if  the  service  was  optional,  the  consignees  would  suit  their  own  convenience  as 
to  what  they  called  for  and  what  they  had  delivered.  Such  a  mixed  system  would 
produce  more  confusion  and  possibly  more  expense  than  the  present  method. 
The  practical  result  would  be  two  systems  in  the  place  of  one,  each  capable  of 
taking  care  of  almost  the  entire  tonnage. 

The  question  of  railroad  or  independent  management  admits  of  more  argument. 
If  the  railroads  undertook  the  service  what  would  be  the  result?  The  first  require- 
ment would  be  a  new  system  of  rates,  published  and  sanctioned  by  the  various 
railroad  commissions.  After  a  schedule  was  allowed  that  would  be  fairly  remuner- 
ative to  the  railroads,  competition  would  set  in  between  the  railroads  and  the 
private  truckmen,  with  the  result  that  the  latter  would  be  entirely  deprived  of 
the  package  freight  business,  a  situation  engendering  strong  opposition  to  the 
plan.  This  competition  would  run  a  peculiar  course  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
railroads  could  change  their  rates  only  after  a  certain  notice  to  the  railroad  com- 
mission (30  days  in  Pennsylvania)  while  private  truckmen  could  take  immediate 
advantage  of  commercial  conditions.  A  number  of  railroad  men  have  ventured 
the  suggestion  that  the  railroads  would  have  a  rate  forced  upon  them  that  would 
not  compensate  them  for  an  effective  service. 

The  independent  company  would  meet  all  changed  conditions  by  immediate 
tariff  adjustments,  and  could  take  care  of  all  situations  generally,  provided  that 
that  company  had  an  absolute  monopoly  of  this  business  in  the  particular  city 
in  which  it  was  operating.  With  two  or  more  companies  taking  care  of  this  ton- 
nage, one  for  each  railroad  for  instance,  there  would  be  an  overlapping  of  zones 
and  constant  competition  between  the  various  railroads  from  different  points, 
all  of  which  the  drayage  companies  would  be  compelled  to  take  care  of.  One 
independent  company  in  each  city  with  absolute  monopolistic  powers  with 
respect  to  that  city  seems  to  be  a  prerequisite  to  the  success  of  the  system. 

This  solution  of  the  third  problem  makes  the  solution  of  the  fourth  relatively 
easy.  The  independent  drayage  concerns  would,  of  necessity,  make  a  charge 
for  hauling,  separate  from  that  of  the  railroad  transportation  charge.  Thus  the 
schedule  could  include  various  zones  and  conditions  which  would,  of  course, 
be  regulated  to  some  extent  by  the  commonwealth  as  is  the  case  with  all  com- 
panies enjoying  an  absolute  monopoly. 

A  prominent  Eastern  official,  after  concluding  that  the  centralized  delivery 
system  was  not  feasible  for  the  present,  due  to  the  peculiar  relations  existing 
between  the  railroads  and  the  railroad  commissions,  remarks,  "It  will,  however, 
have  to  be  faced,  I  believe,  in  the  more  or  less  immediate  future  and  seems  to 
be  the  only  possible  alternative  to  expenditures  for  terminals  in  congested  parts 
of  the  city  at  an  expense  which  threatens  to  still  further  reduce  any  remuneration 
from  the  haulage  of  less-than-carload  traffic. " l  Another  official  from  the  same  city 
made  this  laconic  reply: — "Think  it  desirable."1 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  this  collection  and  delivery  service  has  been  per- 
formed by  the  railroads  in  England  and  some  Continental  countries  with  success 
for  a  number  of  years.  It  is  not  the  intention  to  cite  this  example  as  a  proof 
that  the  same  method  should  be  adopted  in  the  United  States  where  conditions 
are  different. 

1  Source  withheld. 


APPENDIX  71 

STEADYING  INFLUENCE  IN  THE  LARGE  MARKET 

An  important  factor  in  connection  with  the  larger  market,  and  a  point  dis- 
tinctly in  its  favor,  is  the  relative  steady  supply  and  demand.  To  the  extent 
that  this  condition  exists  in  any  market,  are  producers  and  consumers  benefited. 
The  producer  is  assured  a  relatively  permanent  demand  for  his  products,  and 
the  consumer  is  assured,  under  ordinary  conditions,  a  continuous  supply.  Such 
conditions  have  an  effect  on  prices.  The  producer  prefers  to  unload  his  entire 
production  at  one  market  at  a  low  price.  Both  parties  share  the  benefit. 


FEATURES  PECULIAR  TO  LARGE  FOOD  MARKETS 

There  are  several  features  of  no  direct  relation  to  each  other  that  are  peculiarly 
true  with  respect  to  food  products  and  food  markets,  although  they  may  figure  to 
some  extent  in  other  markets  also.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  organization  of 
the  trade  dealing  in  food  products  generally,  and  until  very  recently,  if  not  at 
the  present  time,  in  the  fruit  trade  in  particular.  Mr.  F.  A.  Waugh  in  his  very 
interesting  work  entitled  "Fruit  Harvesting,  Storing,  Marketing,"  after  reciting 
many  examples  of  the  deplorable  relations  existing  between  the  producers  and 
the  middlemen  writes,  "This  organization  of  the  fruit  trade  is  certainly  far  from 
ideal.  The  shipper  is  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  commission  man.  The 
whole  bargain  is  on  one  side  of  the  transaction."1 

This  was  written  in  1912.  From  talks  with  large  food  producers  the  fact 
becomes  clear  that  present  conditions  are  still  subject  to  improvement,  and  that 
those  who  "can  pick  their  company"  deal  with  large  houses  with  sound  financial 
rating  and  a  record  for  honest  dealing.  It  is  not  so  much  "lost  bills"  as  it  is 
"cut  bills."  Unfair  deductions  before  remitting  to  the  producer  is  the  main  offense. 
In  the  largest  commission  houses,  where  a  number  of  clerks  and  salesmen  are 
employed,  there  is  not  so  much  chance  for  the  "individual"  treatment  which 
results  so  disastrously  to  the  producer.  It  is  natural  to  infer  that,  as  a  rule, 
the  largest  houses  would  be  located  in  the  centralized  markets  where  the  greatest 
amount  of  business  is  transacted, — hence  one  of  the  advantages,  to  the  producer 
at  least,  of  the  centralized  market,  and  especially  the  large  centralized  market. 


WHOLESALE  AUCTION  MARKETS 

The  wholesale  auction  market,  recommended  for  their  respective  cities  by  the 
New  York  and  Newark  Commission,  is  one  way  of  reducing  the  number  of  busi- 
ness transactions  between  the  producer  and  the  commission  man.  This  type  of 
market  aims  to  give  fair  dealing  to  all  through  its  publicity,  and  has  demonstrated 
its  success  in  the  citrus  fruit  trades  in  this  country  and  in  many  cities  in  European 
countries.  Since  practical  results  have  shown  that  the  good  which  this  type  of 
market  can  accomplish  increases  with  the  enlargement  of  its  scope,  it  follows 
that,  as  a  general  rule,  the  wholesale  auction  market  is  most  efficient  in  the  larger 
or  centralized  markets. 

»  Page  10. 


72  THE  CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 

ELECTRIFICATION 

The  electrification  of  railroad  terminals  in  the  larger  markets,  extending  to 
the  city  limits,  as  it  of  necessity  would  be  compelled  to,  would  be  a  distinct  point 
in  favor  of  the  decentralized  food  market  in  that  city,  provided  some  efficient 
centralized  system  were  not  already  established.  The  voluminous  report  of  the 
Committee  of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  on  "The  Electrification  of  Railroad 
Terminals"  (1908)  almost  indisputably  points  out  that  electric  freight  handling 
is  most  efficient  in  handling  less-than-carload  freight  for  short  distances.  Electric 
freight  handling  results  in  exact  spotting,  less  jolting,  a  more  frequent  schedule, 
and  numerous  less  important  and  more  indirect  advantages.  It  is  also  con- 
tended that  the  service  could  be  performed  cheaper  by  electricity.  These  facts 
mean  better  handling  of  food  products  in  large  decentralized  markets,  as  in 
Chicago  and  Philadelphia. 


STORAGE  AND  REFRIGERATION 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  the  centralized  plan  in  a  given  market,  so  far 
as  either  storage  or  refrigeration  facilities  are  concerned,  would  have  an  advantage 
over  the  decentralized  system  in  that  same  market.  The  demand  for  such  service 
being  greater  in  the  former  case  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  not  only 
would  the  increased  demands  be  catered  to,  but  catered  to  more  efficiently. 
Lower  land  and  labor  costs,  and,  very  probably,  smaller  demand  combine  to  keep 
the  price  for  storage  slightly  lower  per  hundred  weight,  bushel  or  crate  in  the 
decentralized  market.  The  cheaper  help,  poorer  ventilation,  and  other  differ- 
ences generally  make  up  for  the  lower  costs,  in  cases  where  they  exist.  In  refrig- 
eration the  difference  between  the  two  systems  may  be  more  marked.  Cheap 
superintendence  of  a  refrigeration  plant,  no  matter  what  the  facilities,  is  often 
very  expensive  to  the  market  men,  as  many  of  them  are  too  ready  to  testify. 

Efficiency  in  refrigeration  requires  a  number  of  rooms  at  different  temperatures. 
The  temperature  that  obtains  the  best  results  in  the  case  of  meats  or  fish  will 
show  discouraging  results  when  used  for  keeping  certain  vegetables.  Experts  on 
the  subject  have  ascertained  by  practice  the  best  temperature  for  keeping  the 
various  food  products.1 

The  temperature  in  any  given  room  may  be  regulated  by  the  installation  of  the 
proper  number  of  feet  of  brine  coils,  and  is  generally  so  arranged  that  the  same 

i  APPROXIMATE  TEMPERATURES  FOR  STORING  FRUITS  AND  VEGETABLES 

Apples,  summer 36-42  degrees  F. 

Apples,  winter 32-35 

Pears,  summer 36-44 

Pears,  winter 33-38 

Peaches 36-38 

Plums 36-42 

Cherries 38-40 

Grapes 32-36 

Potatoes 36-40 

Cabbage 34-36 

Beets 36-40 

From  "Fruit  Harvesting,  Storing,  Marketing,"  p.  111. 


APPENDIX  73 

room  may  be  kept  at  different  temperatures  at  different  times,  merely  by  the 
valve  arrangement  which  reduces  the  number  of  feet  of  coils  in  operation.  Hence 
two  or  three  rooms  may  supply  many  different  temperatures  to  accommodate 
seasonal  products,  a  fact  which  lightens  the  burden  of  inefficiency  of  the  small 
or  decentralized  market  as  compared  with  its  larger  rival. 


GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 

The  foregoing  observations  and  conclusions  suggest  four  general  types  of  mar- 
kets, roughly  distinguishable  from  each  other  by  their  size  and  scope.  The  deci- 
sion as  to  centralization  or  decentralization  in  the  two  markets  representing  the 
extremes  of  this  division  is  comparatively  easy.  For  the  small  markets  (up  to 
100,000),  not  serving  a  large  outlying  district,  centralization  of  the  distributive 
functions  for  the  food  products  is  inevitably  demanded  by  considerations  of  cost 
and  service.  For  the  abnormally  large  market,  of  which  the  city  of  New  York 
may  be  taken  as  an  example,  centralization,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  is  phys- 
ically impossible.  The  great  extent  of  such  a  city  demands  a  decentralized 
market  system  within  its  boundaries. 

The  two  types  of  markets  lying  between  these  extremes,  representing  a  large 
portion  of  our  population,  are  fields  for  more  fruitful  discussion.  Cities  with  a 
population  hovering  about  the  100,000  mark  and  even  those  whose  population  is 
double  that  number,  are,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  best  served  by  a  cen- 
tralized market  system.  The  important  fact  to  note  in  this  connection,  however, 
is  that  the  boundaries  of  the  food  market  which  has  such  a  city  for  its  center,  is 
not  co-terminus  with  the  political  boundaries  of  the  city  itself,  but  of  a  much 
wider  range.  Observations  made  in  this  report  prove  conclusively  that  for  this 
larger  "market,"  decentralization  is  decidedly  to  the  advantage  of  the  outlying 
districts  of  that  market. 

The  large  markets,  in  general  figures  those  whose  population  numbers  upward 
from  300,000,  present  the  most  difficult  problems  as  far  as  centralization  or  decen- 
tralization of  their  food  products  is  concerned.  In  general,  the  facts  adduced 
point  to  the  following  conclusions,  so  far  as  the  cities  themselves  are  concerned. 
Should  electrification  be  adopted  for  any  reason,  by  the  railroads  within  the  limits 
of  the  market,  decentralization  of  the  delivery  system,  so  far  as  less-than-carload 
quantities  are  concerned,  seems  advisable.  Should  the  particular  market  already 
have  a  centralized  system  located  in  a  congested  section,  and  economic  or  social 
reasons  make  a  change  of  location  necessary,  as  for  instance  to  allow  space  for  the 
development  of  the  business  district,  centralization  of  the  system  for  the  distribu- 
tion of  less-than-carload  quantities,  in  one  of  the  less  highly  developed  portions 
of  the  city,  combined  with  a  centralized  delivery  system,  as  outlined  in  the  report, 
would  seem  advisable.  In  any  case,  as  the  testimony  of  railroad  and  business 
men  point  out,  decentralization  is  the  better  method  for  the  distribution  of 
carload  lots. 


74  THE   CITY  AND  ITS  FOOD  SUPPLY 


ADVANTAGES  AND  DISADVANTAGES  OF  THE  CENTRALIZED 

FOOD  MARKET 

ADVANTAGES 

1.  Relatively  steady  supply  and  demand.     This  means  more  steady  market 
for  the  producer,  as  well  as  a  more  dependable  one  for  the  buyer.     It  means 
a  natural  balance  wheel. 

2.  Cheaper  buying. 

3.  Better  storage  facilities.  (Advantages  not  so  great  as  one  might 

suppose.     See  pages  43-44.) 

4.  Offers  possibility  of  cheap  and  efficient  auto  centralized  delivery. 

5.  Large  commission  houses.  (Generally    maintained    that    business 

honesty  increases  with  the  size  of  the 
firm.) 

6.  Raises  value  of  surrounding  real  estate.     (In  some  cases.) 

7.  Better  refrigeration  facilities.     (See  pages  44-46.) 

8.  Tonnage  concentration  cheaper  to  the  railroads. 

9.  Railroads  would  need  fewer  cars. 

10.  Railroads  would  need  fewer  stations  and  housing  facilities. 

11.  Wholesale  auction  market  of  great  value. 

Note:  A  centralized  auto  collection  and  delivery  service,  under  management 
independent  of  railroad  control,  and  with  absolute  monopolistic  powers  as  to  this 
service  in  the  particular  market  in  which  it  was  operating  would  be  a  great  aid 
to  centralization  in  its  handling  of  L.  C.  L.  quantities,  in  the  larger  markets. 

DISADVANTAGES 

1.  Congestion. 

2.  Often  blocks  the  progesss  of  the  business  district. 

3.  Longer  team  hauling.     (For  comparative  expense  see  page  24.) 

4.  Large  commission  houses.     (Dictate  to  the  producers.) 

5.  Unhealthy.     (One  of  the  elements  of  congestion.) 

6.  Artificial  ventilation. 

7.  Causes  enormous  "damage"  claims,  especially  in  L.  C.  L.  freight.    (See  page 

31.) 

8.  Slow  delivery  to  the  outlying  points. 

9.  Teaming  delays. 

10.    Often  results  in  ridiculous  distributive  routes* 


APPENDIX  75 


ADVANTAGES   AND   DISADVANTAGES   OF   THE    DECENTRALIZED 

FOOD  MARKET 

ADVANTAGES 

1.  Tends  to  do  away  with  large  terminals  with  their  complexity. 

2.  Lessens  general  congestion  in  the  central  district. 

3.  Lands  the  products  nearer  to  the  consumer. 

4.  Aids,  when  fully  developed,  the  advance  of  suburbanization. 

5.  Less  need  for  costly  and  pretentious  stations,  and  less  tax  on  progress  at 
times  of  necessary  enlargement. 

6.  Total  platform  space  needed  for  same  amount  of  freight  is  less  at  the  decen- 
tralized units,  due  to  congestion  and  longer  haul  from  the  centralized  station. 

7.  Platform  storage  costs  less  per  ton. 

8.  Increases  the  value  of  the  outlying  districts. 

9.  Eliminates  some  of  the  numerous  handlings. 

10.  Natural  ventilation. 

11.  Cheaper  and  quicker  teaming. 

12.  Quicker  delivery  for  outer  circles. 

13.  Tends  toward  more  intimate  relations  between  the  producer  and  consumer. 

14.  Tends  toward  more  ultimate  relations  between  the  producer  and  the  retailer. 

15.  Eliminates  a  host  of  middlemen. 

Note:    Decentralization  would  be  effectively  aided  in  the  larger  markets  by 
the  adoption  of  electrification  by  the  railroads,  within  the  limits  of  the  market. 

DISADVANTAGES 

1.  Prices  (wholesale)  would  tend  to  be  less  favorable. 

2.  Storage  facilities  slightly  less  favorable. 

3.  Lacks  the  possibilities  of  the  centralized  market  for  cheap  and  efficient  cen- 
tralized auto  service,  due  to  the  smaller  amount  of  freight  that  would  be 
handled. 

4.  Means  smaller  commission  with  the  consequent  increase  of  the  "personal" 
element  in  the  business.     (See  p.  41.) 

5.  Refrigeration  facilities  less  favorable. 

6.  Means  higher  total  labor  costs  to  the  railroads. 

7.  More  freight  cars. 

8.  More  railroad  stations. 

9.  Wholesale  auction  markets  of  less  value. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
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MAS  8  194  1M 

—  1 

SENT  ON  ILL 

nrT  3  0  2000 

U  V*  i    **  * 
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U.  C.  BERKELt  T 

LD  21-100m-7,'39(402s' 

